Slender Minded
by The Blue Engine
Summary: Based on the internet meme "The Slender Man." Ophelia Carter is a teenage girl enjoying the high life, but her life turns upside down after receiving a necklace, and becomes convinced The Slender Man is following her. Unable to tell what is real and what is in her head, Ophelia fights back against the monster while trying to save her mind before it is too late.
1. Morning

**Chapter 1: Morning**

_Bring bring…. Bring bring…. Bring bring…._

Ophelia Carter's eyes opened up, and she flipped over, staring towards her bedside table. Her Blackberry was buzzing, and the screen was lighting up her early morning room. Ophelia groaned, as she had been looking forward to a sleep in. But it took her half a minute to realise it was her sixteenth birthday, and it would have to be a birthday wish.

"Who is it…" Ophelia moaned, and grabbed the device. The screen was telling her she had one new message, and opened up the message, the blue screen making her squint in the half light.

_Hey O! Happy B-Day. Hope U get sum nice pressies! =) Ashley._

Ophelia smiled, and texted a thanks back to her best friend, Ashley. But by the time she had finished, four more texts had arrived, and by the time Ophelia had read and replied to them, it was half past seven.

With a wide yawn, Ophelia stood up and stared around her bedroom. Posters of boy bands, actors, movies and from concert tours covered nearly every inch of her lilac wallpaper, with the gaps filled with photos of Ophelia, Ashley, her other friends, her family and her chocolate Labrador, Millie. There was a rarely used desk with her bag on it, and a bookcase that only had Twilight in it, and the rest was filled with plush toys and DVD's.

Ophelia wandered sleepily into her ensuite bathroom, which was purely white and blue, and stared at the mirror. Her faced was round and tanned, and had attracted the attention of many boys at her school. But Ophelia only had the eye for her boyfriend, Sam, who was three years older than and worked out, so their pairing made tons of people jealous. Her long brown hair hung down to her shoulders, and while she was wearing a pink shirt and long striped pants, Ophelia was quite slim, and usually wore short shorts to show this. She quickly took a drink of water and washed her face, and then Ophelia wandered out of her room, grabbed a white dressing gown, and stared walking down the hallway. Her father was a television executive in TVNZ, and her mother ran three different saloons on Remuera Road, so her family had a nice amount of money. Fancy paintings and numerous portraits were hung down the brown walled hallway, and the carpet was a honeysuckle colour. There was a rainbow coloured vase that cost more than most people's cars outside the main bathroom, and two more surrounded the staircase.

"Hello…" Ophelia murmured, and walked slowly down the carpeted stairs. The lower floor was quiet, and Ophelia's feet, with bright pink toenails, made echoing footsteps as she walked along the polished oak floor.

"Hello?" Ophelia repeated, and walked cautiously into the living room. Her parents always went to the gym early in the morning, and she had been expecting them to be up. But as she entered the wide living area, which had four leather sofas, wooden floors and walls, polished bookcases and tables, and numerous vases, portraits, mini statues, paintings and ferns decorating the terracotta coloured room. There was a creak, and Ophelia turned.  
"SURPRISE!" Ophelia let out a squeal, and watched as her three family members leapt up from behind the sofa.

"Oh my god!" She wailed, before beaming widely. Her parents and sister, Abigail, walked out from behind the sofa, each holding a box.

"Happy birthday darling!" Ophelia's father, Jeremiah Carter, boomed. He had jet black hair that he frequently dyed, and was about six feet tall, though was shorter than Sam, so Ophelia laughed when her father tried to give him trouble. Standing by his side was his wife and Ophelia's mother, Meredith. She was short and stout, and had a horrible fake tan and tacky bleached blonde hair.

"My little girl is growing up!" Meredith said in her nasal voice, and gave her daughter a hug.

"Thanks guys!" Ophelia replied shrilly. She then turned towards her sibling, Abigail. Abigail was only 13, and seemed to resent her sister for being so perfect: while Ophelia was tall, skinny, and had a great boyfriend, Abigail only had about three friends, was short and plump like her mother, and got mocked a lot for being rather gothic. Her hair was short and dyed purple, and she was already wearing thick black eyeliner.

"Happy birthday." Abigail grunted, obviously grumpy about waking up early.  
"Aww, thanks sis." Ophelia replied with a fake smile, and gave her an air hug. She then looked eagerly over at the presents, and grabbed one wrapped in pink paper.  
"What is it, what is it?" Ophelia asked eagerly, and began tearing strips of paper off.  
"It's a new iPhone, as your last one looks a bit tacky." Meredith explained, and Ophelia giggled happily as she looked at the box. But before she could admire it even more, she snatched up the second present, which had orange and purple paper. It turned out to be a boxed set of the second True Blood season.  
"Oh my gosh, thanks guys, I have wanted both of these things for ages!" Ophelia cried happily.  
"I'm glad you like them dear." Jeremiah said. "I'd better go and check on the waffles we're making!" And he rushed out into the kitchen. Meredith sat down, and gave Abigail a little jab in the side. The younger sister sighed and walked forwards, and then passed a box down to her sister.  
"I thought you might like this." Abigail said robotically. Ophelia gave her sister an ugly look, and then tore the rainbow coloured paper off. A plain shoebox was inside, and Ophelia opened the lid. On top of a black frilly skirt and two Simpsons T-Shirts was something folded up. Ophelia picked it up and began unfolding it, curious as to what it was. Abigail began smiling broadly, and Ophelia was concerned.  
"What is this?" She asked, though her tone was more of worry than the excitement it had been a minute ago. Abigail just giggled, and Ophelia finished unfolding it and screamed.  
It was a poster, though it didn't have Channing Tatum or Taylor Launter on it. It was a man, but no normal human being. If the post had been life sized, the man would have been about ten feet tall, with thin, string like legs and similar arms, which ended with skeletal fingers. The man wore a black suit with a simple white shirt underneath, which looked fairly normal.  
But then his face! It made white look dirty, and had a slight lunar quality to it. But he had no eyes, only dark slits, and then had a jagged mouth, which could open exceedingly wide. This person was known as The Slender Man, a creepy internet character that had become a sensation amongst dark people, but it gave Ophelia the creeps.  
"What is wrong with you, you freak!" Ophelia shrieked, and tore the poster in half.  
"Hey, that cost fifteen bucks, I was going to return!" Abigail snapped.  
"Do you think I give a fuck, you stupid-" Meredith stood up and walked between the girls, and Jeremiah ran back into the room.  
"Stop this fighting, right now!" Meredith snapped. "Abigail, you go to your room and think about this! And later, both of you will apologise for your rudeness!"  
"But mum, I don't want to apologise to _her_!" Ophelia growled.  
"You'll apologise or I'll take your presents away!" Meredith warned. Abigail skipped merrily off, showing no remorse for her sister's upset. Ophelia gave her a scowling look, but it got ignored.  
"Let's put this behind us now, alright, and we can have nice waffles." Jeremiah said, and he walked awkwardly back into the kitchen.  
"Coming dear?" Meredith asked. Ophelia looked down at the poster as she scooped up her presents.  
"Yeah, in a second." She replied, and picked up the torn pieces of the poster. She examined the strange head, and had a feeling that the Slender Man did have eyes, and he was staring directly at her, ready to tear at her throat.  
_It's just a poster. _Ophelia reminded herself. She tore the poster into quarters, and then threw it onto the electric fireplace for that evening, before skipping into the kitchen like her sister, putting the nasty creature behind her.


	2. The Necklace

**Chapter 2: Necklace**

After a delicious breakfast of waffles (with cream, fruit and chocolate sauce), Ophelia raced upstairs, and quickly got changed into her new black skirt and a purple T-Shirt. Than, she spent about fifteen minutes putting her makeup on, giving her red lips and blue eyes, and taking several pictures of herself to put on her wall. Next, Ophelia called several friends to thank them for their wishes, and they all gossiped about what they would wear at Ophelia's party that night. But, after nearly twenty minutes, Meredith yelled to her daughter, telling her to come down: they were going to see her mother.  
"Why are we even going to see her?" Ophelia sighed, as she sat in the front seat of her mum's Santa Fe, driving towards Green Meadows Retirement Village.  
"We are going because it is a nice thing!" Meredith sighed. "Besides, you use to love seeing your grandmother when you were little."  
"Yeah, that was before I realised she was a horrible bitch." Ophelia snapped. Meredith gasped and turned towards her daughter angrily.  
"Don't talk about her that way! She may be a bit cross, but you shouldn't call her a-"  
"CAR!" Ophelia yelled. Meredith looked back at the road, and she quickly swerved to avoid a VW Beetle. Meredith sighed again, and then turned right: they had reached the village, and Ophelia hadn't even noticed.  
"That's new." The teen muttered, and watched as a black security gate retreated behind the peach concrete walls.

"I heard that an Alzheimer's patient wandered onto the road and was hit, so they put extra security in." Meredith whispered, and the car drove through the gates, leaving the busy road behind and entering a road surrounded by trees.  
In the Green Meadows Retirement Village, there was around two hundred houses, designed to be easy to walk around and for the residents to personalise. Each 'flat' could house up to three people, though only life-long friends did this. The flats come white, so they can be painted any colour the residents wanted, so the Santa Fe passed a flat of every colour. The gardens also come with flowers, but can be altered anyway they wanted: some had a rainbow of different flowers, others contained statues, or wooden birds, or there own vegetable patches.  
"Here we are." Meredith said, and pulled up outside another flat. Ophelia reluctantly got out of the car, smiling at two passing old ladies, and stared at her grandmother's flat.  
Unlike the other flats, Beatrice Grant had left her house untouched, and it remained purely white. A row of tulips and a rose bush had come with the flat as well, but both had since shrivelled up and died. Even a Pohutukawa Tree outside the flat looked pretty dead, which wasn't good.  
"Come along, she is probably waiting for us." Meredith said, and rushed up a small ramp, and then tapped on the door. Ophelia sighed and walked slouchily over, and noticed the front door was open.  
"Oh boy, the fun begins." She sighed, and walked in after her mother.  
There was very little light inside the flat, which opened up directly into a narrow hallway, which was also white. Meredith led Ophelia passed pictures of Beatrice's two sisters and three brothers, past a dirty kitchen with ten year old appliances, and then into a living room, which had faded blue carpet. The living room consisted of a round wooden table, a wooden coffee bench, an old green sofa, and a broken television set. There was a bookcase, which contained numerous sun-damaged books and black and white photos.  
"Mother?" Meredith called nervously. Ophelia looked down another hallway, but no one was there.  
"Over here." A sickly voice croaked. Ophelia and Meredith turned around, and looked behind a silk curtain, leading to a little office area. Meredith pulled the curtain across, revealing her mother.  
Beatrice Grant was nearing her eightieth birthday, and she definitely looked the age. Her hair was thin, white and wispy, and looked almost dead. Her skin was badly sun damaged and looked yellow, like her books, and it was sunken and badly wrinkled. She was wearing a faded orange tracksuit, and was staring with her cold grey eyes at an empty tea cup, as if expecting something to come out of it.  
"Hello Mother, how are you?" Meredith whispered, and gave her mother a hug, which she didn't reciprocate.  
"Ophelia, you look like a prostitute." Beatrice croaked. Meredith stifled a snigger, and Ophelia's eyes narrowed even more.  
"It's the latest trend." She replied icily, and walked towards her grandmother, and gave her a hug that was barely even one.  
"Happy Birthday, I guess." Beatrice grunted. "But trust you to only see me to get a present."  
"Present? I didn't think you'd be getting me one." Ophelia said sarcastically. But the only reason she was able to survive these visits was to get a gift: Beatrice had inherited a lot of money when her husband had died, and she managed to have a good eye for fancy jewellery. Beatrice laughed croakily, before breaking into a coughing fit. Meredith poured her a glass of water from a jug, and Beatrice gulped it greedily.

"So, do you want your present, or are you truly here to see me?" Beatrice growled. Ophelia looked at her nervously, wondering what she should say.  
"Well, I would appreciate one of your lovely gifts." She said at last.  
"How am I not surprised?" Beatrice chuckled, and pointed towards the coffee table back in the living room. A small silver box, wrapped in purple ribbon, sat on the surface.  
"Oh grandma, you shouldn't have!" Ophelia exclaimed, but eagerly rushed forwards and picked it up. The ribbon fell to the ground, and Ophelia pulled out a necklace.  
"You seriously shouldn't have." Ophelia said through clenched teeth, and stared with disgust at the jewellery: it was made out of a hard, bulky metal, and looked like it weighed a ton. The design at the bottom was a crescent moon, but it was painted about twenty different colours that Ophelia wasn't sure what it actually was. Meredith was stifling her laughter, and Beatrice was grinning broadly.  
"I picked it out especially for you." The elderly lady explained.  
"Why… thank you." Ophelia said at last. Meredith had to sit down in a hard backed chair to try and hide her laughter, and Beatrice's aged eyes were staring at Ophelia, as if forcing her to put the necklace on. Ophelia shivered slightly, but managed to unclip the back and put the necklace around her neck.  
"See, it looks beautiful!" Beatrice proclaimed, and Ophelia just grinned.  
Half an hour later, Meredith and Ophelia finally left, and rushed towards the car. Meredith was finally able to laugh, and she cackled loudly.  
"That thing is hideous!" She said, doubling over in her fit of laughter.  
"Just shut up and open the doors." Ophelia hissed. Once the doors were unlocked, Ophelia leapt in and tried taking the necklace off, but it wouldn't budge.  
"The stupid catch is stuck!" She snarled, and tugged furiously at it. Meredith managed to control her laughter, and then had a go at the necklace.  
"It really is stuck, must be something wrong with it." She said, and retired trying to pull it off. Ophelia growled angrily as the engine started up.  
"I am going to have to wear this at my party tonight!" She wailed, and slumped up against the window. "This birthday is the worst one yet!"


	3. The Party

Six hours later, Ophelia had almost completely forgotten about the incident with her grandmother, as she began to enjoy her birthday in full.  
Her parents had booked up half of the famous Midnight club, located in the heart of Auckland city. It was the famous hang-out spot of all local celebrities, and many a scandal occurred in these walls. It had been pricy to book, but Jeremiah and Meredith wanted the best for their daughter, even if meant spending a lot of their savings.  
Not that Ophelia minded.  
She and her friends had rocked up at eight PM, and after entering two-storey bar, with its flashing strobe lighting, glowing dance floor, well lit bar and expensive couches, Ophelia had begun dancing for a whole hour, occasionally stopping to chat to one of the one hundred people she had invited.

At quarter past nine, Ophelia finally stumbled over towards the bar, with Ashley alongside. Ophelia was wearing a long purple dress, with a fluffy white jacket over it, disguising the hideous necklace. Ashley was red in the face, which matched her red skirt and blue top. Her blond hair was hanging at her shoulders, and both girls were red in the face.  
"I don't think I've partied like that EVER!" Ophelia shrieked.  
"This certainly beats Zumba!" Abigail laughed, and nearly toppled over as she clutched her sides in stitches.  
"Do you think the barman with serve us anything?" Ophelia asked. The bartender turned around at this, and Ophelia smiled at him.  
"Two vodka oranges please." She asked sweetly. The bartender blinked, and then burst into the laughter.  
"Honey, I know this is your sixteenth, so I am not serving you anything of the sort." He explained, making Ophelia's face droop. The man the reached under the bar, opened the fridge, and pulled out a bottle of Sprite. "Knock yourselves out." Several other bartenders chuckled, and Ophelia angrily stamped her boot.  
"I'll be lodging a complaint!" She snapped, and marched away. Ashley chased after, catching up to her friend as Lady Gaga began blaring over the speakers.  
"The guy was just having a laugh, don't get worked up over it." She said, but Ophelia turned angrily around.  
"This is my party, my parents paid a lot for the party, so if I want a drink, I am going to have one!" Ophelia shouted, and was very audible over the noise of the crowd. She Then ran quickly over towards a couch, grabbing a glass with a pink liquid in it on the way. The couch was approaching had a lot of noise coming from it, as one of the male occupants sculled a beer, with his three male friends and two girls laughing and cheering.

"Sam!" Ophelia barked, and then had a large sip of the drink. Her boyfriend turned around, his handsome features visible in the dim light of the club.

"Hey babe." He said charmingly, and Ophelia smiled widely, his eyes making her temporarily forget her issues. But the sight of a scantily-clad waitress, carrying a tray of Cosmopolitans for some of her older friends, which made her remember her rage.  
"The bartender won't serve me a drink, so buy me one!" Ophelia demanded.

"I've got no cash on me, sorry babe." Sam replied, but clicked at his friends, who were pouring a round of beers from a jug. "You got some Jack Daniels, don't ya?"  
"Yeah bro." One of the friends said, and tossed the glass bottle over. Sam caught it, and then passed it over to his girlfriend. Ophelia bent down to kiss him in thanks, but suddenly a hand grasped the bottle.  
"Ophelia, remember what happened last time you drank this?" Ashley scolded, as she tried to pull the bottle from her friend's hands. "You broke two of your mother's vases and then threw up on your bed!"  
"And, I'm not at home now, am I?" Ophelia snapped, and began tugging back. The two friends fought over the bottle, both of them trying to pull it towards them. People were staring around at them, giving them curious looks.  
"Oi bitch, leave her alone!" Sam yelled, and stood up, towering over the two girls.  
"YOU'RE RUINING MY PARTY YOU TART!" Ophelia screamed, and raised a leg, ready to kick her friend. But someone had called a bouncer over, and Ashley let go of the bottle in shock. Ophelia was standing on one leg at time, and had been leaning backwards in the tug-of-war. Everyone gasped as the birthday girl screamed and began to fall backwards. Several guests ran forwards to catch her, but Ophelia fell too quickly. Her head hit the floor with a sickening crack, and she let out a gasp. Ophelia looked up at the roof, with the lights glaring down at her, the music blaring out from every corner, and the crowd gathering over her. She blinked several times, and things went out of focus. The light became too intense, and Ophelia shut her eyes tight.  
She knew at once she was in a dream.  
Ophelia had her eyes shut, but she sensed a change in location, and the sudden silence was frightening. The strobe lights were no longer shining through her eyes, but Ophelia cautiously opened them anyway. She appeared to be lying under the sky, but she didn't know if it was day or night, as a huge grey cloud took up the entire open air.  
"Hello?" Ophelia called, and her voice echoed. She slowly got to her feet, and began taking in her surroundings. Ophelia was in a street, but it didn't look like a desirable place to live: the houses were all painted grey or black, with boarded up windows, holes in the roof, and garbage all over their gardens. Red paint seemed to be leaking out of the windows, almost as if the house was bleeding. The grass was all black and looked burnt, while a tree nearby was sagging over the cracked road.  
"This is strange." Ophelia mumbled, and took a step forward. There was a squeak, and she screamed as a rat ran past. Ophelia broke into a sprint, and began running down this dream road, trying to escape from this nightmarish world. But as Ophelia ran, she just saw more disturbing things: a broken sewage pipe spewing black sludge over the street, a human corpse lying rotting amongst garbage, and a flaming car lighting up the dark world. And the street never ended, it just stretched on and on, playing with Ophelia's mind.  
"Someone wake me up!" She screamed, tears beginning to roll down her face.  
Then, Ophelia heard a footstep.  
She froze, standing in a very cracked part of the street. There were no houses, no trees, no cars, nothing around her, except for two fields on either side, each one with dying grass.  
A footstep echoed again.  
Ophelia knew it was a dream, but she felt something different about this, as if the footstep was a real one, and someone else was in her dream. The footstep sounded again, and Ophelia plucked up enough courage.  
"Wh-wh-who g-goes there?" She stuttered. The footsteps stopped, but they sounded like they were right behind her.  
Ophelia slowly turned around.  
What she saw made her scream.  
The Slender Man was standing there, looming over her, his mouth open wide. One of his arms grabbed onto her arm, and his sharp fingers wrapped around, drawing blood. He raised his other arm over her. Ophelia screamed, her voice echoing inside her dream world. The Slender Man's jagged mouth twisted in an evil smile, and he pulled his arm down.  
"Ophelia, wake up, WAKE UP!"  
Ophelia opened her eyes, and found herself still screaming, but the scene in front of her had changed: the Slender Man, the strange street, the nightmarish world had gone, to be replaced by bright lights, loud music, and several concerned faces looking over her. Sam, Ashley, the bouncer and several friends were crouched around her.  
"Am ambulance is coming; we think you might have a concussion." Ashley explained.  
"The Slender Man, where is he?" Ophelia asked, her eyes darting around. But she couldn't see anything clearly that was more than a few metres away, and her head was spinning like mad.  
"He's not here… let's just get you ready for the ambulance, alright?" Ashley said. Ophelia nodded, before her eyes rolled back into her head, and she collapsed onto the floor once more.


	4. Hospital Drama

"Sl-Sl-Slender Man…. He's going to get me… he's going to get me…"

"Doctor, she's waking up, doctor!"

"Help… someone help…"

Ophelia moaned, and she slowly opened her eyes. Her head was pounding, and she could barely think straight, but she could see a bright light above her, and wondered if she was still in the bar. But there was no loud music, no people crowding over her, and Ophelia could at least see sunlight in the room.

"Ophelia, how are you feeling?" A young man appeared over her, and Ophelia blinked several times and looked up. He was young, with slight stubble, and blue eyes with slicked back hair.

"My head hurts, and the light is really bright." Ophelia replied, and began rubbing her head with her left hand, but noticed an IV had been inserted into a vein. "

"Where am I, what happened?" Meredith suddenly appeared over her, looking very concerned.

"You had a fight with Ashley and hit your head. You woke up in the bar, but you have been unconscious since then." Her mother explained in whispers. "It's now midday, so you've been out for a while. Doctor Jones here has been very helpful in caring for you."

"It's part of the job." Doctor Jones smirked, and pulled a small torch out. "Follow the light with your eyes please Ophelia." Ophelia tried to follow the light, but it was too bright, and she closed her eyes.

"I'm sorry, but it is really really bright!" She apologised.

"It is fine, you may just have a bad concussion. We'll give you a MRI scan to see if there is anything else wrong, otherwise we'll keep you in for observation." Doctor Jones explained. He shook Meredith's hand, and then walked out of their small room.

"God, my head really hurts!" Ophelia moaned, and sinked into her hospital bed. She noticed she was wearing a hospital gown, but that her tacky necklace remained.

"They tried to take it off, but it wouldn't budge." Meredith explained, seeing her daughter staring at the necklace.

"Hopefully they chop it off before I go into the MRI." Ophelia growled, and Meredith laughed.

"Yes, my mother's taste in jewellery has gone downhill a bit, hasn't it?" She smirked. "Now, do you want something? Water? Food? Something to read?" Ophelia just shook her head.

"Where's dad and Abigail?"

"Your father is taking Abigail to this comic book convention thingy." Meredith replied. "But, if you want to see someone, I think Ashley, Sam and some of your friends are in the waiting room." Ophelia froze up, and thought back to what she could remember from last night. She had been acting really stupid, and Ashley had only been trying to look out for her. There had been no need for her to flip out the way she had done, ands Ophelia was now beginning to feel guilty.

"I think I'll see them later, I don't really want to see anyone at the moment." Ophelia whispered, and a single tear came down her face. Meredith nodded knowingly, and passed a tissue over to her daughter. Ophelia wiped it away, and thought about how she was going to make it up to her friend.

"Oh, dear, another thing I noticed." Meredith began, but she was talking rather nervously, making Ophelia worried. "While you were sleeping, you kept muttering things, mainly about a Slender Man and you asking for help." Ophelia's eyes bulged, and she remembered the horrible nightmares she had been having: the strange, grey world, the dead bodies, and then the Slender Man appearing, getting ready to kill her.

"Oh, I was just having a silly nightmare." Ophelia laughed, though it was high pitched and whiny, and Meredith knew her daughter's fake laugh.

"Honey, if you are having sleep troubles, then-"

"Just drop it mum, alright?" Ophelia huffed. "Is there a TV in here?" Meredith wanted to keep talking about it, but Ophelia glared at her, and Meredith rolled her eyes. She grabbed the remote from the bedside table and passed it to her daughter.

"Thank you." Ophelia said sweetly.

"Uh-huh, I'm going to get a drink." Meredith sighed, and walked out of the room. Ophelia laughed, and looked up at the TV in the corner of the room,, ready to turn it on.

She looked into the black screen and froze, the remote clattering to the ground.

In the reflection of the TV, Ophelia could see all aspects of the room: a bathroom door to her right, the door leading into the corridor to her left, the white walls, the windows, everything. But something was in the TV that shouldn't be there.

The Slender Man was leaning over her, shrunk down to a similar height of Doctor Jones. His long fingers were inching over her pillow, getting close to her shoulders and neck. He was smiling, just like he had done in the dream, and was looking ready to kill.

"Ophelia, what happened?" Meredith ran back into the room, and Ophelia blinked.  
The Slender Man disappeared, leaving Ophelia with her heart racing, and sweat trickling down her face and the back of the neck.

"I heard a clattering noise, did you drop the remote?" Meredith asked.

"Y-y-yeah, my hand hurts from the IV." Ophelia lied, and began shaking slightly. Meredith nodded, and picked the remote up. She turned the television on for her, and sat down in the chair. As an episode of The Simpsons began to play, Ophelia shut her eyes, and tried to gain control of her breathing, and put the horrible image of the Slender Man out of her mind.


	5. A Fall Through the Park

**Chapter Five: A Fall Through the Park**

Several hours later, Ophelia was finally discharged from hospital.  
She felt rather weak as Meredith and Jeremiah led her out of the nice clean hospital into the filthy car park, and walked her briskly to their car to avoid someone throwing up nearby.

But once the family got into the car, there was silence.

Ophelia felt ashamed as she sat in the back seat, resting her head against the glass, and looking at her parent's reflections in the different mirrors. Her mother looked tense and anxious, as if she was waiting for news about a dying relative. But Jeremiah's face was twitching, his mouth occasionally opened as he mouthed the lecture he was planning in his mind. Ophelia didn't think he should be driving in this state, as twice he nearly hit a pedestrian crossing the road, and she was sure he had clipped the side of a parked car as they rounded a bend.

However, Ophelia didn't want to say anything. It was the day after her sixteenth birthday, something that was meant to be one of the happiest moments of her life, yet she was already having to deal with coming out of hospital, her father being thoroughly annoyed with her, and would have to try and make it up with Ashley later. Stress wasn't something Ophelia dealt with well, as it made her hot and sweaty and gave her acne. She just wanted her dad to let it out and it over with, and then she could move onto more pressing matters to deal with.

The Slender Man.

Twice in the past twenty four hours, the horrific fictional creature had appeared to Ophelia, and she had no idea what to make of it. The nightmare was easier to think about, as the poster Abigail had shown her could have trigged her to think that way. But the fact Ophelia had seen him in the television, in her own world, was too bizarre to think about. The sooner I get home, Ophelia thought, the sooner she could try and figure out what was wrong.

"I can't believe you betrayed our trust like that!" Jeremiah finally snapped, his voice ringing inside the confinded space of the car. Ophelia snapped out of her thoughts, and sighed to herself: time to face the music.  
"How so?" Ophelia growled, and she noticed her mother tensed up even more at this.  
"For one thing, you promised us that you wouldn't drink, and that you and your friends would be on your best behaviour!" Jeremiah yelled back. "But what happens to that deal: you go and fight with your best friend over some drink, and then you go and hospitalize yourself!"

"I wanted a drink, big deal! Nearly all of my year level goes drinking every single weekend!" Ophelia cried back. "Only goody-goods like Ashley don't, and that's because they won't a good reputation!" She added, as if it was a disgusting thought.

"Well, you should take a leaf out of that girl's book, she seems to have more sense than you!" Jeremiah roared, and it seemed that the whole car shook as he violently turned into a new street, earning himself a loud honk from another car.

"Honey, she just got out of hospital, maybe go a bit easier on her." Meredith whispered, but backed away as Jeremiah stared angrily.

"Oh my god, how is that fair?" Ophelia wailed, and stared angrily at her parents. "How can you possibly think you can treat her like that, you scum?"

"Ophelia!" Meredith gasped, but Ophelia ignored her.

"You can't be an abusive dickhead, and then go and tell me off for misbehaving slightly!" Jeremiah looked as if he was about to explode, and Ophelia angrily turned away, and instead looked out of the window. Tall trees were surrounding them on either side, while people ran, cycled or walked past, all of them looking like they were enjoying the large, beautiful surroundings. It was Queen Elizabeth Park, the largest one in the town, and was a great place to come and relax: no one ever bothered disturbing others, as it was far too peaceful and calm to cause any drama. Ophelia had come here multiple times during her life, and it was one of her favourite places to come, especially when she was feeling stressed.  
"Let me out, now!" Ophelia hissed. Jeremiah quickly came to a halt, and gave her an icy look as she undid her buckle. Ophelia scrambled out, and slammed the door shut as loudly and as hard as possible. As the car sped off, Ophelia could see her mum shouting at her father through the windows, but she didn't really care. Ophelia just turned around and began walking into the park.

Brown leaves crunched beneath her feet, and twigs snapped loudly, slightly spooking Ophelia. But she walked determinedly onwards, desperate to put more space between her and her father. Jeremiah Carter wasn't always a violent man, but he could lose his temper quickly in certain situations. But, being the peppy teenager that she was, Ophelia didn't like to dwell on these things. Whenever her parents started fighting, Ophelia was just leave the house, as simple as that. Abigail said she was weak, and would never survive in the real world with that attitude. But Ophelia knew that she could do whatever she wanted, as she was pretty and intelligent enough.

"Morning there." Ophelia looked around, and smiled at an elderly couple that walked past.

"Hello." Ophelia replied with a smile, and watched them as they walked further into the trees. The part of the park was in sort of like a forest: thick brown and green trees, standing very close to each other, with leaves, branches, fruit and pinecones lying around their trunks. A few metres away was the end of it, the spot where the trees opened up to a wide green field the length of three rugby stadiums. Ophelia began walking in that direction, and pulled her phone out as she did. She figured she should make it up with Ashley, as it seemed the right thing to do.

HEY ASH. D'YOU WANNA CATCH UP? Ophelia typed, and tried to read the screen in the dim light. She wasn't paying attention to the way infront, and as Ophelia reached the edge of the forest, her foot caught on a large root.  
"AHHH!" She screamed, and fell to the ground. She landed in a dirty patch, and shivered in disgust.  
"Stupid bloody trees!" Ophelia huffed. Her mobile had fallen out of her hand, and she turned around onto her back, and looked around for it.

But than she saw something much worse.  
There, standing in the middle of the trees, was the Slender Man.

Ophelia screamed, and moved backwards, staring at it in shock. The Slender Man had risen to be about twice her height. Multiple long black objects, sort of like arms, had sprouted from his body, and seemed to be connected to the tree. It looked exactly like a picture Abigail had once sent Ophelia as a joke, but she doubted Abigail would find this funny. The Slender Man was smiling, and had raised his two normal arms.  
"LEAVE ME ALONE!" Ophelia yelled, and stood up. A broken branch lay by the tree she had fallen over, and Ophelia picked it up. Even though the Slender Man looked far away, she threw it, and shut her eyes in case something bad happened. She counted to ten, and then opened them.

Thankfully, he had gone.

Ophelia smiled nervously, but her whole body was shaking, and she didn't feel safe. She looked around, and saw her phone lying a few feet away, and picked it up. The message had sent by itself after landing, so Ophelia began walking while she waited for a reply.

But then she noticed how quiet it was.

Ophelia didn't mind the peace at first, but after a few moments, she began to notice how odd it was.

_The park's always bloody noisy!_ She mumbled to herself. Ophelia stopped walking, and she began turning around.

Everyone in the park seemed to have stopped moving.

All across the park, people were lying on the ground: old, young, male, female, even pets seemed to have collapsed. Some people had fallen off bikes, other lay slumped in benches or across their picnic blankets. A couple of people appeared to be bleeding, and Ophelia suddenly noticed she was as well: the necklace appeared to have cut her when she fell, and a small stream of blood had started.

_The Slender Man: he's done this, he's killed all of these people! _Ophelia thought. She dropped her phone in the horror of the situation, and the teenager just stood there for about two minutes, looking at all the limp bodies, and wondering how he could have this. Was he punishing her for some reason? Or was he punishing all these people for something else? All Ophelia knew was that she couldn't stay there any longer, and she turned and sprinted away, running alongside the forest and towards the central exit.

And, as she ran, Ophelia swore she saw something smile at her.

(I can happily confirm that there will be 15 more chapters of this story :) )


	6. Sibling Bonding

**Chapter Six: Sibling Bonding**

Ophelia ran all the way home, not pausing for a second, desperate to put the horror of what she had just seen behind her. Cars honked loudly at her as she sped in front of them, thrice nearly getting hit because of this. Tears streamed down Ophelia's face as she ran, images of the limp, dead or dying bodies flashing in her mind every time she slowed down. Ophelia could not believe that something like this had happened, but was worse was that it was her fault: The Slender Man was after her, it was clear to her now, and he had somehow killed all those people. Ophelia wanted to make him pay, but she didn't want to see The Slender Man ever again.

Ophelia finally arrived outside her house and finally stopped, taking a minute to control her breathing and wipe away her tears. She looked around at their fabulous house as she moved up the stone pathway: the golden yellow paintwork with the white framed windows that shone in the sunlight, a rainbow of flowers planted in smart garden boxes, and many intricate stone statues and placed around the neatly trimmed lawn. On a better day Ophelia would take the time to absorb all of this in, but at the moment she just wanted to collapse on her bed and cry.

"Anyone home?" Ophelia shouted hoarsely as she opened the large front doors. There wasn't any response, but loud music came blaring down from upstairs, and Ophelia curiously followed it to find the source of the sound. It didn't take long for Ophelia to locate where it was coming from: Abigail had her door wide open and her radio turned to maximum volume, and was rocking out on an air guitair.

"Would you mind turning it down?" Ophelia said through stifled laughter and turned the radio off at the wall. Abigail froze as her music abruptly ended and turned to face her sister.

"No one else was here, so I'm allowed to listen to it!" She sneered. Ophelia simply shrugged and laughed and turned to leave, but Abigail suddenly jumped off her bed and grabbed her sister's shoulder.

"Have you been crying?" Abigail asked seriously. Ophelia looked at a small hand mirror lying on Abigail's bedside table and could see her eyes were red and blotchy, and there were black streaks down her cheeks from where she'd been crying.

"Of course not, I just got some water in my eye!" Ophelia replied quickly and wiped her face with her sleeves. Abigail didn't look convinced, but she had learnt not to bother arguing with her older sister. Abigail turned her radio back on and turned down the volume, and signalled for Ophelia to leave. Ophelia looked around the room as she walked out: it was almost the exact opposite of her own, with plain white walls with only a few movie and band posters up, and a large bookcase that actually had books on it. Looking at the posters reminded Ophelia of the horrid one she'd received from Abigail, and suddenly a ton of questions flooded into her mind.

"Abbie, I have a few questions." Ophelia asked. Abigail raised her eyebrows suspiciously, but Ophelia rushed forwards and sat down before she could be kicked out.

"It's about the Slender Man, I don't actually know anything about him." Abigail looked a bit confused, but she shrugged and grabbed a black notebook from beside her bed. She flicked through it and finally settled on a page with a bunch of writing in it.

"I copied these notes off the internet, pretty interesting how they made such a detailed backstory up for a fictional character." Ophelia laughed a little oddly, and Aibgail gave her another curious look before reading. "So, from what I've read, The Slender Man goes after children, and it moves at night or creates fog to cloak itself. It is seen most regularly in forests, woods or in areas where children congregate. It can stretch his body as long as possible, and it can create tendril sort of things from its finger, which can help in trapping foes." Abigail stopped reading and looked at her sister, but Ophelia didn't notice: her mind was reeling from what she'd just been told.

"That's really interesting." Ophelia mumbled. She couldn't help but think about how horrible this was: The Slender Man could create fog, moves around in the dark, can grow to great heights and trap her with ten drills! How was she meant to be stop that if the Slender Man came after her again?

"Ophelia, are you alright?" Abigail asked. "You've been acting really weird ever since your birthday, it's beginning to worry me." Ophelia just smiled and nodded, trying to put the bad thoughts out of her mind. But something Abigail had just said clicked in her head.

"Wait, my birthday, what do you mean?" She asked, but Abigail just shrugged.

"I dunno, you've just acted different." She answered. "You were really happy when you woke up and got your presents, but than you were grouchy after you got back from Grandma's, and then you…" But Ophelia stopped listening and looked at herself in the hand mirror again.

And there was the necklace, shining as light reflected off the mirror onto it.

Ophelia had been unable to take the hideous necklace off since she got it, which had been on the day of her birthday. Was there something wrong with the necklace that was causing the Slender Man to appear? Was the necklace important to it, or did it just make Ophelia more appealing?

"Thanks for all your help, I appreciate it." Ophelia boomed a little too loudly and then turned and ran down the stairs.

"Wait, where are you going?" Abigail called after her, but Ophelia ignored her. She grabbed the keys to Meredith's Santa Fe and rushed into the garage.

It was time to pay her grandma a visit.


	7. A Grandmother's Love

**Chapter Seven: A Grandmother's Love**

The weather had taken a turn for the worse as Ophelia sped towards the Green Meadows Retirement Village. It had been nice and sunny earlier in the day, but grey clouds had begun to move in, slowly getting darker and darker. A storm was predicted to strike in only a few hours, and people were being warned to head home in case it got serious.

But Ophelia only had one thing on her mind.

Her grandmother had given her the necklace, and only a few hours later she had begun to feel ill and collapse. The necklace was stuck and couldn't be removed, and Ophelia couldn't help but suspect something.

_The Met Service has just announced that the winds will be stronger than th__ey originally suspected. These stronger winds could cause more- _The radio said, but Ophelia angrily turned it off. She didn't want any distractions: she wanted to focus on getting to the retirement home and finding out the truth. She even refused to look in the mirrors, not wanting to risk seeing the Slender Man.

_Pick up your phone Ophelia…. Pick up your phone Ophelia…._

Ophelia looked down at mobile, lying on the passenger seat. Her personalized ring tone continued to sound as the screen flashed, revealing that her mother was trying to call her. Ophelia declined the call and turned her phone off, narrowly avoiding hitting another car as she did this. Ophelia knew how much trouble she would get into when she got home, but she had to do this….

A few minutes later Ophelia slowed down as she approached the gates that enclosed the retirees inside their little village. The black daunting gates stood in her way, preventing her from moving on. A middle aged security guard in a green uniform approached her car, and Ophelia sighed and reluctantly put the windows down.

"Hello little lady," the aging man said joyfully. "What are you doing here are this hour?"

"My grandma, Beatrice, phoned home saying that she was feeling nervous." Ophelia automatically explained, having decided on the lie on her way over. "We are very worried for her mental health, so I came here straight away." The security guard looked concerned and Ophelia had to hold back a smile, pleased with how convincing she sounded.

"Okay then, I guess I'll have to let you in!" The security guard said, and he moved towards the walls and punched in a code. The gates rolled aside with a slight squealing noise, and Ophelia thanked the man as she raced in, moving a few kilometres above the speed limit. None of the elderly residents were out, staying indoors following the bad weather warnings. Ophelia felt comfortable with flawing it, and could easily say she was speeding as she was concerned. As soon as she saw her grandmother's plain white flat, Ophelia slammed on the brakes, the Santa Fe skidded to a halt. Not even bothering to park properly, Ophelia got out and slammed the door, and began marching over the dead tulips and up the ramp.

"Grandma, open up, it's Ophelia!" She called sweetly, but she was banging on the door as loudly and forcefully as possible. For two minutes she knocked on the door, the whole thing rattling as if it was about to fall off. The wind began to pick up as she stood there, and as the first drops of rain began to fall the door swung open.

"Ophelia, what are you doing here dressed like that?" Beatrice asked, her wrinkled face twisted up in curiosity and anger. Ophelia ignored her and barged into the hallway and began walking determinedly towards the living room.

"What do you think you're doing young lady?" Beatrice squawked as she followed after in her dressing gown and slippers. Ophelia stopped once they got into the dimly lit living room. Some light was coming in through the big windows in the office area, but the stormy weather and the bare walls made the light seem creepy.

"This necklace, where did you get it from?" She shrieked, clutching the hideous necklace that was still stuck around her neck. Beatrice leant against a wall, a shocked hand over her face.

"I got it from a market, the lady said it had been imported in from China!" The elderly lady replied, appalled at her granddaughter's reaction. "She said that it was part of a series of necklaces."

"Which market?" Ophelia hissed. "Flea market, black market, or was it really some behind-the-alley sort of deal?" Wind and rain began pattering the metal roof, adding a dramatic thundering effect to the tense situation.

"It was a beach market a few weeks ago, nothing dodgy about it!" Beatrice insisted. "Are you accusing me or something, is there something wrong with the necklace?"

"I've been having hallucinations, I've been feeling unwell!" Ophelia replied, and she stared around, making sure the Slender Man wasn't around. "And I can't get it off, but I guess that was part of your plan, wasn't it?"

"What plan, what are you talking about?" Beatrice said hysterically. Ophelia wasn't getting the answers she was expecting, but she could tell Beatrice had wanted this to happen, she must have.

"You gave me this necklace as…. as…. as a punishment, that must be it!" Ophelia said. She began walking around the room as she thought, holding the necklace in her hand. "You did something to the clip so I couldn't get it off again. It's must be doing something to me, like electrifying me or poisoning me or something sick like that!" Beatrice couldn't take it any more and she slumped forwards onto a coffee table as her knees gave way. Ophelia ignored her and kept walking. There must be clues somewhere in the house, like an address to where she brought the necklace.

"You can hide your secrets from me!" Ophelia shouted, and she ran towards the bookcase and began flicking through books for clues. Beatrice began sobbing, and deep down Ophelia felt a little guilty. But she had to do this, she had to find why this was happening. Ophelia rummaged over a desk in the office area, throwing practically everything onto the floor. Receipts, medical bills, letters from doctors…. Nothing was there! Ophelia roared and turned around, wondering if she had dropped anything on the floor behind her.

She froze.

The Slender Man was staring at her.

Ophelia screamed and grabbed the office chair. The Slender Man was staring at her from outside, raising a long pale hand, his mouth twisted in a wicked smile. Beatrice screamed as well as Ophelia smashed the chair through the window and then tossed it aside, grabbing a piece of shattered glass.

"Get out of my house right now you demented girl!" Beatrice wailed, and Ophelia turned to see her grandmother had picked up her ancient phone. "I'm calling the police and then your parents! I can't believe your doing this!"

"Don't try and back out of what you've done now!" Ophelia yelled, and she ran towards her grandmother who was shaking too much to dial the phone. Ophelia grabbed the phone and smashed it against the wall. Beatrice wailed and turned to run, but Ophelia grabbed onto her grandmother, brandishing the shard of glass above her head.

"Just tell me the truth, what are you doing to me!" Ophelia shouted. She pointed out through the broken. "Are you working with this man? Why did you send him after me? ANSWER ME!"

"I don't know what your talking about!" Beatrice wailed weakly, tears streaming down her face. "No one is there!"

"DON'T LIE!" Ophelia screamed. She hated what had happened to her, and she wasn't going to let her grandmother lie to her anymore. "He's right there, just look!" Beatrice just shook her head, sobbing in a painful manner. "LOOK!" Ophelia screamed again and pushed her grandmother forwards, hoping she would see the man.

But didn't expect what happened next.

Beatrice was already weak from her bad bones and not doing much with herself, and she had been feeling weak ever since Ophelia had arrived. Her knees buckled completely as she was pushed forwards, and the elderly woman couldn't stop herself in time. Ophelia could only watch as Beatrice fell onto the coffee table face first, the sound of her forehead hitting the edge louder than the wind whistling through the broken window. Beatrice fell onto the carpet, her eyes shut and her mouth open. Her head turned onto a funny angle, and she simply lay there, not saying a word.

"Beatrice…. Grandma…." Ophelia whispered nervously, taking a step backwards. Her grandmother didn't respond: she didn't speak, she didn't move, she just lay there. "No…. this can't have happened… she can't have…" Ophelia hissed, and she dropped the glass on the floor having completely forgotten where it came from. The sound of the glass hitting the carpet quickly reminded her, and Ophelia turned towards the window, half expecting the evil figure to be waiting for her.

No one was there.

Ophelia began to cry as she realised what had happened. The Slender Man hadn't been there, he possibly had never been there. She was going crazy, losing her mind completely.

And she had just killed her grandmother for no reason.


	8. Covers and Uncovering

**Chapter Eight: ****Covers and Uncovering **

Ophelia stared down at her grandmothers lifeless body, unsure what to say, not knowing what to do. She had just killed someone, someone she had known all her life, someone that was her own flesh and blood. Beatrice looked like she could have been sleeping by the way she had fallen, but Ophelia couldn't try and trick herself to think something else: her grandmother had died, and it was all her fault. The wind and rain were coming in through the smashed window, bringing the low temperature down even further. Ophelia began shivering as she huddled together in the foetal position.

Ophelia had no idea what she should do right now: turn herself in or flee and try and cover things up? She had to choose between facing jail or facing a life of lies, and Ophelia wasn't sure if she could possibly handle either of these things. She only had a few minutes to decide: her parents would probably be looking for her, the security guard knew she was here and someone was sure to find out eventually. The longer Ophelia stayed here, the worse things would get, but Ophelia couldn't bring herself to stand up, the shock of what she had done weighing her down.

"What a pickle you've got yourself in."

Ophelia froze.

The voice that had hissed those words was icy cold, and each syllable seemed to be wrapped around evil. Ophelia's whole body was shaking now, and she turned around slowly, trying to see a source of the noise. A small mirror hung over her Beatrice's desk, the tiny thing used to check her makeup. Staring at her through the reflective glass the chalk white, lifeless face of the Slender Man, his jagged mouth twisted in a devious smile. Ophelia screamed and leapt up, staring at the mirror with bulging, fearful eyes.

"YOU MADE ME DO THIS!" She roared at the mirror, and the Slender Man began chuckling coldly. "GO AWAY, STOP FOLLOWING ME!" Ophelia screamed again, but the taunting face remained there, mocking her. Ophelia screeched and, not knowing what else to do, grabbed the mirror and threw it against the ground. The whole thing shattered against the floor, shards of glass flying everywhere and Ophelia stomped down on the wooden back. She was now breathing deeply, staring down at the broken mirror and hoping the Slender Man was gone. Suddenly, something in her mind came together like a jigsaw puzzle: she stared between Beatrice, the broken window and than the broken mirror. A foul idea formed in her mind, but it was Ophelia's only option: she faked a robbery.

Moving swiftly and without much thought, Ophelia reached into her grandmother's handbag and put on a pair of gloves to cover her fingerprints. She then emptied the bag, sending tons of makeup and a cigarette lighter on the floor but no wallet. Ophelia had to make it look like a robber had come into the house, killed Beatrice and knocked Ophelia unconscious. In order to make it look bad, she ran around the apartment, destroying practically everything in sight: she smashed photographs and small items, ripped open cupboards and drawers and scattered their contents across the floor. Ophelia upended several small desks and threw more chairs around, several of them shattering as they smashed against the wall. The bookcase came crashing down with a heavy push, most of the books already on the wall, and appliances in the kitchen were ripped from the wall and thrown through the windows. Ophelia began having rather twisted fun as she demolished the tiny apartment: she had always hated coming here as there was never anything to do, and she gleefully threw an old pot threw the TV.

She ran into the hallway leading to the bedroom, kitchen and a study. The study was covered with tons of papers that had been scattered around over the years, along with a spare bed and a desk. Ophelia used the cigarette lighter to set fire to several different sections of paper, the curtains, bed and desk. They dry room erupted into orange flames within seconds, and Ophelia allowed the room to burn as she headed into the bathroom. She smashed the medicine cabinet and scattered pills across the floor. She then grabbed a jumper and shoved it down the toilet, and then put plugs in the bathtub and sink. Ophelia planned to flood the bathroom, and quickly turned the taps on and flushed the toilet As water began to fill and spill out of their containments, Ophelia rushed back into the hall and looked up at the ceiling fan above her: it was too high up for her to damage, so she instead headed towards the bedroom.

The bedroom hadn't changed at all since Beatrice had lived here: a large old double bed in the middle of the room, the floor covered with mounds of papers, clothing, old treasures and rubbish. A large wardrobe was open, more clothing and mess hidden away here, and a set of drawers stood in the corner. Here was where Ophelia felt guilty as she began tearing clothes and upending the drawers without pausing: the valuable stuff that had been in her family for decades was all in this room, and she was going to destroy it for own selfish gain.

_It has to be done, I can't go to jail… _Ophelia thought, and she smashed one of several priceless china jewellery boxes. Precious earrings, necklaces and brooches spilled out amongst the mess, along with several hundred dollar bills that made up Beatrice's savings. Ignoring the beautiful jewellery, Ophelia smashed the other two boxes and gathered everything that had been inside them up. She would have liked to take some, but it was better to hide it all, so Ophelia pulled the mattress cover up and hid the jewels in between the mattress and the bed, tucking the sheets back in roughly to cover it up. Smoke was now trickling in from the study, and the fire alarms suddenly began wailing dramatically around her.

"Shit!" Ophelia cursed, and she remembered Beatrice once telling her off for burning some food because a fire alarm rang in the main office as well. The security guards would be here soon, and Ophelia needed to make it look like she had been injured as well. Covering her mouth with her sleeve, Ophelia ran out into the hall.

The fire had spread quickly, being fuelled by the dry walls and all the papers in the room. The fire had begun eating through the rest of the house, but it was now colliding with the soggy carpet. Ophelia stared briefly into the bathroom, the bath tub and toilet overflowing and the sink close to being pushed off. She then looked back into the roaring orange and yellow flames that had increased the temperature dramatically and cancelling out the storm effects. She threw the money she had found into the flames, and then tossed the gloves in as well, effectively destroying all evidence as the fire consumed them both.

_Now, I need to knock myself out…_Ophelia mumbled, and then coughed violently as the smoke began to cloud her vision and fill her lungs. Ophelia didn't want to injure herself too badly in case there were side effects, so she decided to take a running go at the walls. Abigail had knocked herself out once when they'd been running, and it was her best shot at doing this. Ophelia waded through the water, which was now over her ankles, and paused by the bathtub. She could easily run through and smash her head into the wall, and then the fire brigade would find her and save her.

_Here goes nothing _Ophelia thought and she began to run at full speed, her head down like a battering ram. She was about to hit the doorframe when suddenly she lost her balance on the wet, slippery floor, slipping over onto her back. The teenager slid across the tiles, screaming, and landed in back in the hallway where she came to a stop. The smoke and heat were getting more intense, and Ophelia began coughing worse than ever.

_How can things get any worse?_Ophelia thought sadly, just as she had a creak and a crack from above. Ophelia looked upwards in horror as something large and white came towards her through the smoke. She cried out as the fan landed on her chest, followed by some bits of roofing that hit her on the head. The fire was destroying the old frames, and the ceiling couldn't hold the heavy fan up anymore. Ophelia tried to lift the fan up which seemed to be burning her chest, but she struggling to breathe due to her lungs being crushed and the smoke. The ceiling pieces and smoke were making her dizzy and giddy, and Ophelia couldn't stay awake any longer. As she began to black out, distant sirens wailing outside, Ophelia saw a pale face slowly appear above her, clearly visible with the smoke and fire behind the face.

"You have no idea what damage you've done," The Slender Man laughed, his voice high and cruel. Ophelia tried to cry out, but only a heavy cough only came out instead as her vision began to darken. She could hear shouts coming from nearby, she could see the thin black fingers of the malicious man getting close to her face, she could only smell the smoke from the fire that was quickly consuming the flat….

And that was all she could remember before Ophelia slipped into unconsciousness.


	9. A Murderous Decision

**Chapter Nine: A Murderous Decision**

Once again, Ophelia found herself waking up in hospital.

She let out a groan as she blinked her eyes open, though found she was unable to stare around. Like last time, a single light was like a blaring spotlight shining in her blurry eyes. Her hearing was no better, with the distant sounds of footsteps echoing around inside her head. Loud beeps and the crackly sound of a TV set were not helping, and Ophelia was beginning to feel distressed: her chest felt like it was being crushed tightly, her ribs nearly driving into her muscles, and the pain was excruciating. Ophelia tried to move her arms, but it simply caused more shooting pains in her chest, and the same spasm happened when she tried titling her legs.

_What's going on, why am I here? _Ophelia thought fearfully, her heart racing as the noises continued to sound around her. She could feel something covering her face and nose, but she couldn't see any of it due to her blurred vision. Ophelia was beginning to get frightened and she dug her nails into the sides of the bed she was in, worrying what was happening to her.

"Ophelia… Ophelia… Ophelia, you need to calm down! Can you hear me… Ophelia?"

The teenager stirred and managed to look down, surprised to see a familiar face: it was Doctor Jones, the same doctor from her last hospital visit. She tried to same something, but the doctor pulled his torch out again.

"So good to see you're awake, we were getting worried." The suave doctor explained. "Now, I just need to see if your head is feeling alright." Ophelia could barely talk, but she shut her eyes in pain as the torch appeared over them, feeling like hot knives driving through her pupils. Doctor Jones frowned as he turned the torch off, and stare so close to Ophelia's face that she began to freak out.

"I may wait for your eyes to adjust, I don't think you would have had a concussion from this incident." He explained calmly. "However, you have suffered from serious smoke inhalation and two cracked rubs, but thankfully you don't have any internal bleeding. There's some slight bruising around your breast and stomach, but that should clear up within a few weeks." Ophelia tried to say something, but she broke down into a coughing fit. Doctor Jones removed the thing covering her mouth and nose, and Ophelia realised it was a breathing mask that she had seen many times on television: in her sudden fear she hadn't realised what it was.

"Don't talk to much, you will still have a sore throat for a while to come." Doctor Jones explained, and Ophelia nodded as her coughing managed to come to an uneasy cough.

"What happened to me, how did I get in here?" Ophelia asked in an extremely hoarse whisper, sounding more like a leaking pipe than her normal voice. Doctor Jones face suddenly slumped, his calm smile being replaced by an uneasy, cautious expression that made Ophelia's heart fall: it was the sort of look he would have given to a family after a relative passed away.

"I'm not sure the whole details, but the paramedics explained things to me briefly, and so did the police once you were stable." The handsome doctor continued, and Ophelia looked shocked. Why had the police been involved, had she done something wrong? At that moment, Ophelia suddenly remembered something: she had been in her mother's car, driving somewhere, though she couldn't quite remember where. And… fire… there had been lots of fire….

"All I know is that you were retrieved from your grandmother's flat, and a security guard found you being crushed by a ceiling fan that collapsed on you." Doctor Jones explained uneasily. "There was a fire raging through the apartment, which had been trashed, and one security guard pulled you outside while others called all three emergency services." Ophelia was remembering now: she had gone to her grandmother's flat, going to confront her about the necklace, but had found the Slender Man there and flipped out. "There's something else Ophelia…" Doctor Jones continued, and Ophelia could hear the uncertainty in his voice. "It's your grandmother… she was found lying on the floor… dead."

"What!" Ophelia gasped, but she quickly burst into another coughing fit. Doctor Jones slipped the breathing mask over her mouth and nose again, and Ophelia suddenly burst out into tears. She was not crying for the seemingly sudden news, she was crying because of what she had done: Ophelia had murdered her grandmother in her fit of rage, and had completely destroyed her old flat, nearly killing herself in the process, simply to cover her tracks. How could it have all gone so horribly wrong? Ophelia struggled to hold back, letting her tears consume her, not even worrying about the pain throughout her body anymore: she just couldn't take her guilt.

"I think I'll leave you alone for now, give you some time to grieve privately." Doctor Jones said, and he turned to leave the room. But Ophelia suddenly realise something, her weeping coming to an abrupt halt. She remembered something the doctor had said only a few moments ago: he had spoken briefly to police. That meant that the police could still be here, waiting to talk to her about what happened…

_All this would have been worthless if they manage to catch me out… _Ophelia thought quickly, wiping her tears away. _I need to act quickly: they'll be nice to me if I only just woke up and am in pain. If I let them get the upper hand, they could tear me to shreds. _Ophelia managed to raise her left arm, which didn't cause as much pain, and she banged it against the side of the bed. She raised her head and saw Doctor Jones turn, and he rushed back and removed her mask.

"I remember what happened…" Ophelia whispered, trying to put on a convincing, frightened act. However, she really just wanted to get things over with and put the flat behind her.

"Are you certain?" Doctor Jones asked seriously. "You didn't seem to a second ago."

"It all came back to me, like a wave washed over me!" Ophelia said seriously, her voice already getting strained. "I need to get this over with, they need to find who killed my grandmother!" Doctor Jones nodded, and he turned and rushed out of the room, presumably to find the police. Ophelia let out a sigh of relief and grabbed the mask from on her chest, taking a few healthy puffs of air. But as Ophelia touched her chest, she realised something was missing. She felt around her neck and was delighted to find her tacky necklace had been destroyed: the fan must have destroyed it beyond repair.

"Yes!" Ophelia whispered in delight, and she caressed her neck where the chain had once been like a hangman's noose, pleased to finally be rid of it. There was the sound of footsteps, and two uniformed policemen of both genders came in with Doctor Jones.

"Hello there Ophelia, how are you feeling?" The male said calmly. He had grey hair and was rather wrinkled, but he came across as nice as he smiled down at her, placing a tape recorder on her bedside table. The woman was younger, with long dyed red hair and a slightly pudgy appearance.

"I'm alright, though I'm still in pain." Ophelia replied, putting a sad voice on as she gave the two puppy dog eyes. The policeman nodded while his female colleague took a pen and ad out to help copy notes down.

"We just need to ask you a few questions about what happened at your grandmother's flat." The policeman explained calmly as he turned the tape recorder on. But as soon as it went click, Ophelia opened her mouth: she couldn't hold it in any longer, so had to let her guilt come out.

"I wanted desperately to ask my grandmother some questions about the necklace I was wearing, because I was afraid that it was this cursed locket I had seen in school." Ophelia began saying before she could be asked a question. "I was really worried so I took my mum's car in order to get there. The security let me in so I had no idea there would be trouble. However, I opened the door to find someone was in there! I'm not sure how, but there was just this man!" The policeman looked rather shocked at this, and he made sure his female counterpart was copying this down. Ophelia smiled to herself: her plan was working.

"I tried to run, but the man threatened my grandmother and than shoved me into the bathroom as he began destroying everything." Ophelia continued, forcing her body to shake. "I heard tons of things smashing and heard him yelling at my grandma!" Ophelia let out a loud sob, but was glad she had worked this in. If anyone had heard her screaming at Beatrice, this information would disprove her role. "Than the man set the flat on fire! I think he started in the study, there was lots of flammable stuff in there. I clogged the toilets and bath in a desperate hope to put the flames out. But than I managed to get the door opened and I ran out, trying to see what was happening, when I slipped over. And that was when the fan landed on me and I fainted."

"Well…" The policeman said, looking a bit astounded. He looked at his partner, who was furiously scribbling down what Ophelia had said, trying hard to get it all down. There was a bit of an awkward silence as they thought of how to react, so Ophelia used the silence to repeat her story inside her head making sure she knew every fake deal of the incident. They seemed to believe her, which was a good thing, though Ophelia hoped they didn't dive too far into the story.

"We need a description of the man." The policewoman said. Ophelia nodded and began racking her brains to try and think of a description. Should she go for plain and simple, or make some really extravagant person that they'd never be able to catch?

"Tut, tut, tut, lying to the police! I'm not surprised, but how could you do such a thing?" Ophelia suddenly froze up, her heart skipping a beat as the ice cold voice washed over her. She can feel the temperature dropping, could feel her body tensing up. She could hear the policeman asking what was wrong, but her hearing seemed to be shutting off like the rest of her body.

"I'm sorry, weren't you expecting me to come back?" The voice hissed again, and then it laughed, sending cruel, high pitched laughter echoing throughout the room and inside Ophelia's head. She looked around in terror, expecting the Slender Man to be looming over her, his hands raised and ready to slash down, the policeman pulling his gun out and readying to shoot him.

But nothing was there.

"Sl-Sl-Slender Ma-man…" Ophelia whimpered, looking around frantically. But no one was there: no one ready to kill her, no one hiding in the shadows, just a bunch of machines and the two startled police officers.

"So it was a thin man?" The policewoman asked, jotting this down. Ophelia nodded and collapsed back into her bed, and before she knew it tears were streaming down her face. She couldn't help it and couldn't control it, and heard the police officers leap up uncertainly.

"Thank you for this… we'll return in a little while." The policeman said softly, and Ophelia watched through her tears as the two left, whispering quickly to each other. She rolled over onto her side and began moaning, the tears dripping onto the sheets. The laughter continued to eco inside her head, and Ophelia knew what this meant.

The necklace hadn't been what had brought the Slender Man to her.

The Slender Man was here to stay.


	10. Home Sweet Home

**Chapter Ten: ****Home Sweet Home **

For the next two weeks, Ophelia remained in hospital. Dr Jones wanted her to be as healthy as possible before he discharged her, and was pleased at how fast she was healing: Ophelia recovered quickly from the smoke inhalation, and her ribs were beginning to go back into place. Ophelia was happy to be recovering as well, always smiling widely to the friendly doctor, the nurses that did check ups, the friendly Polynesian lady who brought her all her meals. Dr Jones was glad she was back in high spirits, and he called off the counselling sessions he had arranged with the hospital psychiatrist. At first, the young doctor had been concerned about how distressed Ophelia had been over what happened at her grandmother's flat, but after telling the police what happened, the teenage girl seemed to cheer up, and Dr Jones didn't want to distress her by making her talk to a counsellor. If she was happy, than why upset her again?

However, Ophelia was the opposite of happy.

The whole incident was taking a serious toll on her. She had hated being questioned by almost everyone that came to see her: her parents, Abigail, Sam, her extended family, the police officers, security personnel from Green Meadows, even a special investigator assigned to the case! It seemed all these people were talking to Ophelia just to find out about her grandmother, and this wasn't doing wonders for her ego. After people got the information they wanted, they would quickly depart, leaving Ophelia alone in her room. She wasn't even told when her grandmother's funeral service was hold: ironically, Beatrice had been cremated, and Ophelia had to stifle a snigger when told about this. But she couldn't use the internet, her parents brought in some bad movies and books, and her iPod had gone missing, so Ophelia had nothing to do with all the spare time she had.

But the thing that was destroying her time the most was The Slender Man.

Ophelia was living every day in fear. She lay in her bed, staring firmly at the ceiling with her body tensed up beneath the sheets. While she hadn't seen the Slender Man since the night of the fire, his laughter still taunted her during the day. Every time things got quiet, every time Ophelia began to feel like she was safe, the cruel, icy laugh would sound around her, sending shivers down her spine and nearly making her cry. She was desperate to find some sort of relief from this endless torture: it seemed the Slender Man wanted to make her suffer as long as possible, his sadistic laughter interrupting her when she tried to sleep, eat, drink, go to the bathroom, practically anything! Ophelia wanted to leave the hospital and get back to familiar surroundings, the bright white lights and bare walls and rooms leaving her right in the open for the Slender Man to get to her.

Thankfully, Dr Jones finally discharged her, deciding that she would possibly heal better in her own bed, rather than remained trapped in the uncomfortable hospital bed. Ophelia was also ecstatic to be leaving: she was genuinely happy for the first time in days as she bade farewell to the handsome doctor and the nurses, and gleefully headed home with her family. She hoped to put those awful two weeks behind her, and get on with life with her family.

"I washed all your sheets and covers last night, so your bed is nice and clean." Meredith Carter explained as they drove away from the hospital, Jeremiah taking the wheel. "I also got you some new books and DVD's to keep you occupied: Dr Jones said you should bedridden for another two weeks while your ribs finish healing."

"Thanks a bunch mum!" Ophelia replied enthusiastically, glancing behind her as the hospital faded into the background: the two weeks would soon be a distant memory, and she would be able to get past the terror of the fire. But as Ophelia turned back around, a wide smile on her face, she noticed a look between her parents: it was one of those awkward 'knowing something' looks that people sometimes get. Her mum had pursed lips and a rather sad look in her eyes, whilst her dad's eyebrows were raised with a frown on his face.

"What is it?" Ophelia asked nervously. She didn't like people keeping things from her, and there was no denying that there was something to this. Both of her parents sighed as they came to a steady halt at a traffic light, waiting for a long queue of cars to go pass.

"Honey, we're really glad that you're happy, and your recovery is just amazing!" Jeremiah Carter explained, sounding like he was explaining basic maths to a five year old. Ophelia knew the tone: he was trying to be nice and calm, but something bad was going on. "However…. Abigail isn't taking your grandmother's passing that well."

"She can't remember when my father died, so this is a big blow to her," Meredith explained as they finally drove off again, leaving the busy street behind.

"Abbie is beginning to cope with it, but maybe don't act too happy around her, alright?"

"I guess…" Ophelia replied solemnly, and slid back in her seat. Her happiness was beginning to slip away as fast as it had risen: the fact she had murdered her grandmother was coming back to her, and she didn't want anymore sadness or depressing thoughts to slow down her recovery. But when she conjured up her life, Ophelia hadn't thought it through properly. She was now going to have to live with her guilt for the rest of her life, live with the fact she had taken a life, the fact she had killed a relative. The Slender Man had been the focus of her mind for these two weeks, but now the guilt was going to settle in, and Ophelia was beginning to question herself: how was she going to live with this?

A few minutes later, Ophelia was cheered up slightly as the Santa Fe pulled up in their driveway, and she stared gleefully up at her house: she was finally home! Ignoring the previous warning, Ophelia grabbed a backpack with some of her stuff in it and slid excitedly out of the car. She would have leapt out if it hadn't been for her sore ribs, and the fact she hadn't moved much over the past fortnight. Hobbling slightly, Ophelia headed straight for the front door, desperate to get inside and back to her familiar surroundings.

"Remember: Don't be too happy!" Meredith whispered, and flung the door open. Ophelia ignored her as she finally stepped back inside her home, gazing around at their huge hallway, remembering all the fond family photos and wishing to do nothing more than rush upstairs as fast as possible and collapse on the bed.

"Hey there, welcome back." A timid voice sounded nearby, and Ophelia's happiness faded as she turned around. Abigail was watching their widescreen television in the next room, one of the many bad talk shows flashing on the screen. Ophelia's heart sank as she looked at her sister: Abigail's hair was a mess, and she had stopped wearing her dark, dreary makeup, making her look rather pale and unwell.

"Hey, thanks…" Ophelia said awkwardly. Abigail got up, revealing the large blue woolly jumper she was wearing. Ophelia instantly recognised it, remembering she had owned one just like it for about three days before burning it. Beatrice had given them these jumpers two years ago, and it had been almost as ugly and tacky as the necklace.

_I burnt that jumper… the necklace got destroyed… I burnt down her house… _

Ophelia couldn't contain her guilt anymore, and she suddenly erupted into tears. Her whole family was in the hallway, Jeremiah carrying a bag with the rest of her things in it. Meredith sobbed, and she rushed forwards to give her daughter a hug.

"NO!" Ophelia wailed and slid backwards. She wasn't deserving of hugs: she had brought this pain on herself. "My ribs are still sore… I'm going to my room!" Ophelia cried through her tears, and she headed for the stairs, leaving her shocked family behind.

Ophelia didn't even look around her room as she came in, clutching her rubs as they screamed in pain from her swift movements up the staircase. She didn't care about her ribs though, as it was her heart that was aching the most. Ophelia collapsed down onto her bed, which felt like heaven after the weeks spent trapped under the measly hospital sheets on their flat, uncomfortable mattresses. But did she deserve this comfort? Ophelia was crying hysterically into her pillow, feeling her tears being rubbed into her silky pillow. She just wanted to leave the pain behind, fade away and let her guilt disappear. This horrible feeling wasn't doing her any good, and she just wanted to let go. Ophelia couldn't live like this… she couldn't live with this pain…

"So, enjoying being back?"

Ophelia felt her entire body freeze.

An icy cold laugh followed up the sneering whisper, and she felt her tears changing from sadness to fear. There was no denying who had whispered, and Ophelia was afraid to turn back towards her room, not knowing who would be there.

"Come on my pretty… I want to see your face…" The nasty voice hissed again, and Ophelia began to shiver in fear. She felt like the Slender Man was touching here… like he was breathing on her… did he even breathe? Ophelia knew nothing of this monster that haunted her, and that was one of the thoughts that scared her the most: what if the Slender Man knew everything about her? What he would use this against her? Ophelia didn't want to be at her mercy, and she knew she would be if she had her back to him. Slowly, still shivering with fear and holding back tears, Ophelia turned around.

No one was there.

Ophelia's fear levels increased as she stared frightfully around the room. No one else was in her room. Her bookcase was up against the wall, so no one was behind there, and a quick glance at her desk showed it was empty underneath. The door to her en-suite was closed, and Ophelia knew that it was soundproof from experience (she and Sam would have been caught out a long time ago otherwise). But where was the voice coming from?

"You are quite the jumpy little creature, aren't you?" The Slender Man laughed, and Ophelia stifled a scared screech. She pulled her blankets up over her, not wanting to leave herself exposed. It was only than that she realised something: it had been noon when she left the hospital, but now Ophelia's room was pitch black, almost as if it was night time.

"What are you doing to me?" Ophelia tried to shout, but it came out as a frightened whine. The Slender Man laughed again, and it felt as if Ophelia's bed was vibrating as the cruel sound echoed around her.

"My dear… I don't have bad intentions… I just want to get to know you…" Ophelia shivered with revulsion, but she noticed something about the voice: it seemed to be coming from nearby… closer than she had thought…

"Now dare, why don't you just… relax…" The Slender Man purred, and Ophelia saw something move out of the corner of her eye. She tried to retract her legs, but it was too late: the Slender Man's long, skeletal hands rose out from underneath the bed, like snakes being charmed. Ophelia screamed as they suddenly stretched and dived under the opposite sides of the bed, moving around and coming back up. Ophelia screamed as the extending arms wrapped around her, pining her to the bed. Her legs were stuck together, and now her stomach and chest were being tightened.

"NO, STOP THIS, STOP IT!" Ophelia screamed, and she lifted own arms up so they wouldn't get caught. The arms continued to wrap around her and the bed, moving over her still healing ribs and getting closer and closer towards her head. Ophelia could feel tears streaming down her face, but she could no longer move her body, the arms effectively pinning her down. Already she was feeling claustrophobic, wondering if she was going to be able to breathe. The skeletal hands came to a stop just below her neck, leaving the rest of Ophelia's body trapped between the sheets and the bed.

"Why are you doing this, let me go!" Ophelia wailed desperately. The hands were right below her chin, almost caressing her skin. It felt cold and dead, and Ophelia shivered and began to sob, unable to hold back. She didn't want this, she hadn't asked for this, but why was she continuing to be tortured! The Slender Man laughed again, and Ophelia's limited view due to her restraints still allowed her to see towards the end of the bed: the monstrous, nightmarish creature was rising up from beneath the bed, like a demented shadow with a mind of its own. His jagged face was once again twisted into a demented smile, and the horrific creature was getting taller and taller, his arms still attached to his body.

"Oh Ophelia… Ophelia, Ophelia, Ophelia…." He said with a sigh, still looming over the crying girl. "You act like you're an innocent, but your not. You act you don't deserve this, but you do. You think you are perfect, but you are kidding yourself. You are a nasty, vindictive, cruel little girl, and you get everything that's coming to you." Ophelia tried to block out his icy voice, but it was seeping through her no matter how hard she tried. What did he mean by that? What had she done that so awful that the Slender Man had the right to torture her? Suddenly, the gigantic, looming creature dived down in a single swift movement: his sickening white face was now only a millimetre above Ophelia's. She could see every line, every spot, every mark upon the bald, near-featureless face. Ophelia squirmed and cried harder than ever as the jagged mouth opened wide, the claw like hands creeping further up her face.

"LIAR!" The Slender Man screamed in her face. His left hand suddenly slashed across Ophelia's right cheek, and the girl let out a scream. She could feel her skin being torn, and the wound stung as her tears hit it. "SKANK!" The right hand now struck her left cheek, and Ophelia gasped fro breathe as the pain combined with her chest, which was continuing to be crushed by the arms. "MURDERER! FILTH! SCUM!" Three more times the hands cut across her cheeks, and Ophelia could feel the blood dripping down onto her pillow, the pain unbelievable. How could her family have not heard her screams… how were they not running in to here to save her? The Slender Man was shouting more things, and Ophelia felt her face continuing to be clawed at. Would her checks be able to heal, and what happened when the Slender Man decided to attack another part of her? Where was he going to slash her next…

"GET OFF ME!" Ophelia screamed. She had no idea where this sudden rage and courage was coming from, but she couldn't just lay her idly while her face was mutilated, especially if no one was coming to save her. Remembering her arms were above her head, Ophelia lashed out, whacking the Slender Man on the forehead.

"HOW DARE YOU!" He roared, but Ophelia didn't care if he was angry: he had been putting her through hell, and she needed to act. She continued trying to punch him, her arms flailing madly, but the Slender Man let out a hiss-like sound and his body stretched out of reach. Ophelia's arms flapped helplessly in mid air, but she realised that her face was no longer being attacked, the hands recoiling backwards.

"You insolent vermin!" The Slender Man growled. "You'll pay for this!" Ophelia stopped moving her arms and stared through her tears in horror: his arms had quickly unravelled, and the Slender Man had raised them, ready to slash down.

"STOP!" Ophelia yelled. "DON'T! STOP! STOOOP!" She screamed, but the Slender Man just smiled and slashed downwards. Ophelia screamed loudly, her head suddenly swirling, and shut her eyes as she anticipated the pain. Her entire body was squirming and shaking, and Ophelia could feel the pain in her chest.  
"NOOOOO!" She screamed. "GET OFF ME! LEAVE ME ALONE! LEAVE ME ALOOOONE!"

"OPHELIA, SNAP OUT OF IT!"

Ophelia opened her eyes, but her body continued to squirm. A face was right above her and she instinctively lashed out, not sure what she did, but heard a loud grunt.

"Ophelia!" A feminine voice sounded from nearby, and Ophelia froze for a second, the voice startling her. Two figures suddenly appeared over her, and she went to hit them, but their faces came into focus: it was Meredith and Abigail, both looking horrified.

"What's wrong with you?" Abigail said, looking thunderstruck. Ophelia began breathing deeply, her mind racing with confusion: where was the Slender Man? Why hadn't he killed her when he got the chance? Her room was bright and full of light, and Ophelia wanted to get up and look around, but her ribs screamed in pain the moment she tried.

"Wh-wh-wha-a-at's going on?" She mumbled, watching in horror as her father appeared in her eyeline as well, clutching a bloody lip. Ophelia could feel herself constricted, but she realised it was her sheets, wrapped tightly and oddly around her body.

"It looked like you were having some sort of seizure!" Meredith wailed. "Look what you've done to yourself!" Ophelia could feel sweat mingling with her tears, which were starting up again as she began to feel claustrophobic, caused by the sheets and having everyone over her in shock. Ophelia's hands felt strange and she cautiously raised them up: her long fingernails, which hadn't been cut whilst in hospital, were stained with blood. Knowing what this meant, Ophelia touched both her cheeks, and they sting with the pain. She could feel the blood and began to freak out, shaking and shivering again.

"Abigail, go grab some towels and a hot water bottle!" Jeremiah cried. "Meredith, go grab the medical kit, we need to patch her up straight away!" The father quickly untangled the sheets from around Ophelia as Meredith and Abigail rushed off to grab things. "Don't worry dare, we'll sort things out!" Ophelia just nodded, her tears streaming silently down her face as her whole body shook with fear. Her thrashing about must be what caused her ribs to hurt… but her cheeks and fingers… it had been the Slender Man that attacked her, not herself… she had seen him do it… hadn't she?

"Calm down sweetheart, calm down!" Jeremiah said, using the same tone he had used in the car. Ophelia was still shaking in fright, unable to comprehend what was going on. Abigail ran silently in with towels, staring at Ophelia with wide, frightened eyes. She was just as speechless as Ophelia was, and the teenager could understand: they must all be startled by this, hearing her scream and coming in to this, a shaking, flailing, bleeding mess.

But Ophelia didn't care about them. She blocked out her family as her mother came in, ignoring them as they began to clean up her face and fingers, ignoring the pain in her face and chest. She wanted to know one thing: how had the Slender Man done this? How had he attacked her, but left her with the bloody fingers? And how had he escaped so fast?

There were too many questions with not enough answers, and Ophelia needed to find these solutions. There was no telling what the Slender Man would do to her next…


	11. Going Back to Hell

**Chapter Eleven: Going Back to Hell**

After all of her time off school, Ophelia was anxious to be going back.

It seemed like years since Ophelia had last set foot on her school, Green Meadows College, and felt nervous as she pulled up in her mother's Santa Fe, staring towards the grounds as the car came to a stop. The large rugby field seemed to stretch on forever like a never ending green ocean, continuing on past the dull grey one storey library and computer lab complex and on towards the brand new gymnasium towering over the students entering from the other gate like a huge concrete wall. The green roofs of the three two storeyed buildings, composing of the Maths, Science and Social Science classrooms rose above the small green and grey prefabs making the English rooms, and a series of machines were moving excavating to the left of the path winding towards the heart of the school, a brand new auditorium being constructed. Ophelia stared at the site as she got out of the car, watching a digger shifting the red-brown earth away. They had done more work since she had last been here… a lot more work… had she really been gone that long?

Ophelia had been at home for an extra few days, finishing her recuperation and recovering enough from her injuries in order to leave the house. Being at home had hardly been any better than being at hospital. Ophelia had spent the most of her time at home catching up on all her favourite television shows that she had missed, but it failed to drown out the depressing talks her mother was having with friends about her grandmother's death. A sense of guilt rose up every time Beatrice's name was mentioned, and whenever she burst into tears Ophelia felt terrible as her parents consulted her, not knowing the true reason for her tears.

And Ophelia was once again glad to be leaving the Slender Man behind. Whilst the psychotic figure hadn't appeared since her frightening nightmare, Ophelia could still hear whispers in the middle of the night, and whenever she woke up and it was still pitch black, Ophelia was sure she could see a figure sliding away near her window or door. She was tired and barely slept, but Ophelia was sure that she was fine: it was better for her to leave her now dark and frightening room, and hope that her school would at least provide some distraction from the internal worries and struggles moving through her mind.

"Alright Ophelia, you can do this!" She mumbled to herself, slinging her black satchel over her shoulder and locking the doors of the Santa Fe. Ophelia smiled, glad that her mother had trusted her enough to borrow the car for the day, and turned and walked through the metal gates, ready to move on with her life and leave her guilt, her injuries and the Slender Man behind.

"Welcome back Ophelia, you look well!" Her Maths teacher Mrs Fry said warmly as Ophelia walked through the gates.

"Thank you," Ophelia said with her brightest of beams, and walked proudly along the path, watching as the diggers moved more earth from the pit that would see become the auditorium, the crater getting deeper and deeper with a huge drop of about three metres already existing. Students passed by Ophelia, wearing the school's white shirt or blue pants or skirt, identical to her uniform, and they called out their own well wishes and flashed their own smiles. Ophelia could feel her joy instantly seeping back into her. She hadn't had this much attention for ages, and was glad to be back in her element, her ego already beginning to inflate as the tenth person called out they were pleased she was alright.

However, the happiness didn't last long: Ophelia reached the end of the path and found herself right back in the middle of school.

After passing the library and ICT block, Ophelia had to make her way past several prefabs and through the towering Social Sciences block. Her happiness drained away as she stared at the dreary faded green roof and dull grey walls, and the mass of students in the same uniform and bars over the windows to stop the number of broken windows simply completed the image of entering a prison cell. Ophelia grumbled as she moved into the large concrete courtyard where the majority of the school sat during lunchtime, glaring at the other two large blocks glaring down at the entire school. She began wondering if she could slip off back home, already not looking to the day ahead, when something suddenly collided with her.

"What the –" Ophelia began as she looked down at a head of blonde hair, hearing a loud sob coming from her shirt, "Ashley, is that you?"

"I-I-I-I'm s-s-so sorry!" And her best friend took a step backwards, black mascara streaming down her face as it mixed with the tears. "I should h-have visited, b-b-but I was still really angry with you! But I felt s-so bad about it, and I –" But Ashley couldn't continue and collapsed back onto Ophelia's shirt. Ophelia was rather taken aback by this sudden breakdown, but was rather relieved to see her friend again, and to know that her horrible behaviour at her party hadn't ruined their friendship after all.

"It's alright, I shouldn't have been such a drunk bitch!" Ophelia whispered, giving her friend a hug, and Ashley laughed just as the bell rang. "Oh joy, Media first!"

"You haven't missed much there," Ashley said, using a tissue to wipe her face and wrapping her arms around Ophelia's, the two walking off together as if nothing had happened. "We've been watching a bunch of crappy Western movies. We're halfway through this one called… wow, I don't even know the title!"

"Trust you!" Ophelia laughed. She was so relieved to be back with her friend that she allowed her happiness to flood back in. All thoughts of her grandmother and the Slender Man were instantly pushed out of her mind, and Ophelia couldn't wait to see Sam, go back to all her classes, see all her teachers… they made sound dull and tedious, but Ophelia wanted nothing more but to put the past few weeks behind her and move on with her life.

She and Ashley entered the main Media Studies classroom to find it full of the usual pre-class babble. The Media room was one the nicer looking classrooms, with Nthree long clean tables positioned evenly around the class, with a row of flash Apple computers at the back of the class next to a cupboard full of video equipment. The polished white lino floor, the sparkling windows and the flash overhead heaters made the classroom much more comforting, and Ophelia was rather pleased to be back in this nice bright, warm environment. Several heads turned as she and Ashley walked in, and the teacher, Miss Thompson, looked up from her laptop.

"Ah, good to see you back Ophelia!" She called, and several students, mostly girls, leapt up and hugged Ophelia. Her ribs still hurt slightly, but she forced a smile on as she moved towards a seat with Ashley and two other girls, Ginny and Allison. "You're a bit behind in our Western topic, but I'll give you the notes later. We're watching a movie called _The Trio _at the moment, so enjoy!" And Miss Thompson pressed a button on her laptop, causing the movie to be beamed from the projector and onto a screen. Someone turned the lights off, and Ophelia adjusted herself to watch the movie, borrowing Ashley's notes to try and get back in.

"How did you injure yourself?" Ginny asked in a whisper.

"Did you really break your ribs?" Allison gasped.

"I heard there was a fire!"

"Was your doctor hot?"

"Guys, I need to catch up!" Ophelia hissed back to them. Her head was beginning to throb, and she didn't want to have to relive the past few weeks. Ginny and Allison looked like they'd been slapped and moved back in their chairs, and Ophelia noticed Ashley was giving her a that-was-unnecessary look, and turned and focused on the movie. Despite, the fact her head was throbbing more, Ophelia wanted to be able to understand the movies plot: there were some men that were looking for money, and they were fighting against each other to get it. At the moment, two of the men were having a gunfight with about a dozen other men. Ophelia smirked to herself as the men kept avoiding bullets, yet managed to easily shoot and kill the men trying to kill them: it was very cheesy and fake, and wished they could be watching a better quality movie, like one of the many romances she had been watching whilst at home. Ophelia rolled her eyes as a bomb suddenly exploded behind the two men, causing a burst of orange flame to light up the screen. Her head was pounding more and more, and Ophelia shut her eyes, trying to force the pain to go away. The pain was getting worse though… she had no idea why this was happening… her head had been fine a minute ago… Ophelia opened her eyes, wondering if the pain had stopped.  
Instead, she felt her body seize up.

There, on the screen, walking out of the explosion was the Slender Man.

Ophelia felt her heart drop through her body, felt her head scream with pain, black dots appearing before her eyes. How was the Slender Man there… Ophelia looked down at Ashley's notes and saw the movie had been made in the earlier sixties. Glancing back at the screen, none of the other characters seemed to have noticed the Slender Man was there: he was walking forwards in a steady and determined manner. Ophelia clutched the sides of the table, bracing herself as her head spasm, sending images of fire rushing through her brain.

"Ophelia, are you alright?" Ashley was looking at Ophelia with wide shocked eyes, watching as her friend began to shake and sweat. "Ophelia!" She cried again, but Ophelia couldn't hear, her attention fully on the screen: she knew the Slender Man wasn't part of the movie know, as his eyeless face was faced towards her, the jagged, vicious mouth smiling once more.

"You can't escape me!" He hissed, his voice echoing from the speakers around the room, and despite seemingly being separate from the film, his voice was croaky and badly tuned like most audio from sixties movies. "Wherever you go, whenever you try to escape me, I will find you!" Ophelia was beginning to shake and hyperventilate now, tears mixing with the sweat on her face. The Slender Man couldn't be here… not at her school… why had he followed her?

"GO AWAY!" She screamed in a shaky voice, but the Slender Man just laughed as Ashley jumped, and he raised his left hand up.

"You've endangered your friends," he hissed, and slashed down the screen, his claw like fingers scraping along with a horrible screech. "You are a silly, foolish little girl, and you must pay the price!"

"NO, GO AWAY!" Ophelia yelled and leapt to her shaking legs, watching as the Slender Man continued to slash at the screen. "LEAVE US ALONE!" Desperately, not able to think of what to do, Ophelia grabbed her chair and threw it across the classroom, hoping it would hit the screen and stop him.

"OPHELIA!" A voice screamed, but Ophelia had zoned out: she shut her yes, her head throbbing more painfully than ever as a smashing sound reached her ears. Without realising it, Ophelia's legs buckled, and her head swirled as she fell to the floor, screams echoing across the room. Her whole body was shaking, and a thud ran through as she crashed into the carpeted ground. But Ophelia didn't care anymore, she didn't even want to live, she couldn't handle it: The Slender Man was here… he had smashed through the screen, and the screams were the sounds of her classmates being murdered… the footsteps were his feet coming towards her now, ready to finally kill her… _well let him_, Ophelia thought as she continued to shake… she couldn't cope… it had to stop…

"OPHELIA!" A voice cried above her: it was angry and feminine, not cold and vicious. Ophelia slowly opened her eyes, head still throbbing, now thoroughly confused: Miss Thompson was leaning over her, her usually pretty face the angriest Ophelia had ever seen it. Ashley was over her shoulder looking pale and terrified, and Ophelia noticed neither were blood stained, or tending to dying classmates

"What happened?" Ophelia mumbled, her head spinning as she got up. The image on the screen was gone, though the screen itself was still intact. Glancing around, Ophelia saw her chair was lying on the middle table, a few feet away from the projector, which now lay smashed and broken on the table. Her classmates were at the back by the computers, several, including Allison and Ginny, were clutching each other, whispering with horrified expressions spread across their faces.

"Where is he…" Ophelia asked to no one in particular, wheeling around as she waited for the Slender Man to leap up at her. But no one was there… the class was still and quiet, broken only by the sparking wires from the projector and several sobbing students.

"No one is here…" Ashley whispered fearfully, looking as shocked as everyone else. Ophelia came to a halt, taking it all in: how had no one seen him? He had been in the screen somehow… was the Slender Man only visible to her? Had he escaped when Ophelia threw the chair, or was still waiting, ready to pounce?

"He must be here, I saw him!" Ophelia cried, and she pushed her table with all her might, knowing the Slender Man had to be here somewhere. She had seen him, so he had to be in the classroom, or nearby. But as this thought crossed her mind, Miss Thompson suddenly let out an unexpected scream of fury.

"OPHELIA CARTER, GET OUT!" The media teacher bellowed, and even Ophelia jumped. "You may have lost a relative and been in hospital, but that gives you no right to come into my class, make a scene, throw my furniture around and break my projector! Now go to the principal's offices, NOW!" Ophelia seized up: she was being punished for trying to protect them. The Slender Man was here, somewhere, but was hiding. Ophelia had been suspecting he could become invisible since all the whispering in her room: was he invisible now, causing all this damage and blaming Ophelia? Her head throbbed at all this thinking and Ophelia swayed, the room blurring and spinning.

"I said get out!" Miss Thompson screeched in a banshee like manner, and moved off, mumbling under her breath. Ophelia simply nodded and grabbed her bag, heading towards the door, ignoring as she stumbled: a new thought had crossed her mind. What if the Slender Man didn't show himself to large crowds? What if Ophelia got him alone?

"Ophelia, are you sick?" Ashley asked nervously, following Ophelia to the door. Ophelia shook her head and walked wordlessly out the door, closing it behind her. As soon as it clicked, Ophelia turned and sprinted towards the staircase: she wanted to stop the Slender Man now, before he could destroy the school, infect the rest of her friends, finish her off... Without another thought, Ophelia knew what she had to do, and if her plan worked, the Slender Man would soon be out of her life forever.


	12. Nightmares are Made of This

**Chapter Twelve: Nightmares are Made of This **

Ophelia rarely ventured onto the school grounds during class, and over her absence she had forgotten how quiet the school could be. Only the tiny flutter of pigeon wings and dull, monotonous chatter echoing out from an open classroom window provided the background noise to Ophelia as she sprinted across the courtyard. The sound of her shoes thumping across the concrete echoed all around, and she knew people would peer out of their windows, wondering what the outrageous noise was. But for once in her life, Ophelia didn't care what anyone in her school thought of her as fear rushed through her body.

The Slender Man was here in her school, which was evident. But Ophelia knew he was framing her: he had damaged the media room, not her. Ophelia needed to prove that the Slender Man was here, not just to clear her name, but she had to do this. The Slender Man had to know he couldn't do this to her anymore: not at school, not at home, never.

The single storey admin building was right at the front of the school. It was painted white and blue instead of the green and grey dullness of the other buildings, giving a more kind and friendly impression for all the visitors to the school. Ophelia didn't care about that though as a set of glass doors slid asides as she ran in, coming to a stop for the first time since leaving her classroom. Her legs and back hurt from running for the first time in weeks, especially with her heavy bag digging into her arms. Panting, Ophelia examined the long white corridor she had entered. The reception could be seen behind another set of glass doors at the other end of the corridor, with a number of evenly spaced doors on either side leading towards it. Most of these were the offices of the administration staff, important people in the school and, Ophelia shuddered at the thought, the principal. Not wanting to go near any of these, Ophelia turned instead to the first door the left: the polished blue wood had NURSE engraved into the wood, and Ophelia shakily knocked and opened the door, hoping her plan would work.

The nurses office was a small, square shaped office cluttered full of chairs, cupboards and tables, with two doors opposite each other leading to a toilet and a small room with a bed and more supplies in it. A desk was shoved into a corner by the window, overfilling with paper, folders, pamphlets, medicine and technology. A haggled looking, grey haired woman sat in an age old wooden chair, yelling into a telephone that made Ophelia want to leave now. But she had to act… she just had too…

"I don't care if your at work, ma'am," the nurse screeched, "but Billy has thrown up all over my bathroom and needs to go home NOW!" And she slammed the phone down, the sound sending shockwaves through an already nervoud Ophelia.

"Um, excuse me?" She said in a shaky voice. The sighing turned around, glaring at Ophelia with a furious bird-like face. "I-I-I'm really tired. My m-media teacher told me to come and lie down," Ophelia lied, nervousness seeping through her. The nurse rolled her eyes, but a retching sound suddenly came out from behind the bathroom door.

"Fine, have a nap!" The nurse squawked, grabbing a cloth off a table. "Just be quiet and don't bother me!" Ophelia nodded, hope and excitement pushing the dark thoughts out of her head: she had the scenario set up, now she just had to bring her enemy out.  
Ophelia ducked into the room as the nurse disappeared behind the door, and she quickly turned the thick metal lock, trapping herself in but preventing the Slender Man from escaping… hopefully. She put her bag down on a chair and examined the small room. The bed, which was just a mattress on a wooden frame with boxes underneath, took up a lot of space, the rest taken up by a water cooler that looked rather poisonous and a table with even more spare supplies placed loosely. A small mirror hung over the water cooler, and it was that that made Ophelia freeze up. The Slender Man seemed to appear in reflective or glass surfaces sometimes: if she wanted to contact him, it would be through the mirror.

Ophelia took a deep breathe as she approached the mirror, keeping her arms stiff and steady so she didn't knock anything over. Bringing the Slender Man out would be dangerous, and Ophelia didn't know what would happen if he overpowered him. But she needed to do this, she needed to act courageous. The Slender Man had been controlling her life for too long now, and she needed to end it now.

Approaching the mirror, Ophelia nervously stared into it: her eyes were bloodshot with dark bags underneath, and her makeup couldn't hide blotches and pimples that had come out during her sickness. But Ophelia ignored her downward appearance, and tapped on the mirror again, which still just showed her face.

"S-Slender Man?" Ophelia whispered, and cursed at her stutter ruining her bravado. "I-I want t-to talk to you!"

"Talking to mirrors now are you? People must think your crazy," Ophelia quickly whirled around: the Slender Man was sitting on the bed behind her, smiling demonically at her. Ophelia took a deep breath, but she could feel her hope and courage slipping away as if a bucket of cold water had rushed through her emotions. The Slender Man let out a cold laugh and got to his feet, making no sound upon the surface.

"You thought you could control this little meeting, didn't you?" He chuckled, growing in height with every word. Ophelia whimpered and collapsed backwards against the water cooler. "You should know by now, Ophelia Carter, that I am the one in charge here. You do not control me, you cannot defeat me. It is time you pay for your ignorance!" The Slender Man hissed, and he raised his left arm, his claw like fingers ready to slash. Ophelia let out a scream, unable to hold back. Her plan was failing, and now all she could do was hold her death off for longer. Trying to think quickly through all her bad thoughts, Ophelia grabbed the water cooler and pushed it forwards with as much force as possible: the claws smashed through the plastic, sending green water spilling over the floor. As The Slender Man was confused, Ophelia grabbed the sharpest object she could find, a pair of scissors used to cut bandages, and charged forwards.

"TAKE THIS!" She screamed, and aimed them towards his chest: Ophelia didn't know if he had a heart or not, but she hoped it would cause him pain. But The Slender Man recovered just in time, stepping asides and causing Ophelia to crash into the table, sending supplies scattering onto the sodden floor below. A thumping sound could be heard from the other side of the door, and Ophelia wanted to unlock the door, feeling her tears building up around her eyes. But as she reached for the lock, ready to free herself from her self-caused trap, something whacked her across the face.

"You silly little girl!" The Slender Man hissed, still growing in size as he retracted his hand. "I should have stopped you long before this! I was foolish not to… now to fix my mistake," and Ophelia screamed as he raised his right hand, and slashed downwards. Ophelia continued to scream as she fell backwards, a searing pain around her chest, the thumping getting louder and louder as she fell. Everything was going black… Ophelia was dying, she knew that… the Slender Man laughed, and Ophelia shut her eyes, trying to block it all out.

She opened them a second later and gasped.

Ophelia was standing up now, but she was no longer in the nurses room: it was the strange grey nightmarish world she had been in the first time she had encountered the Slender Man. The boarded up grey and black houses stood in there rows alongside here, the grass was burnt, dead and black, and the giant cloud overhead made the time of day impossible to tell. Ophelia could feel a pain across her chest, and looked down to see crimson liquid pouring out of four long wounds.

"I can't be dead… I can't be dead… I can't be dead…" Ophelia whispered to herself, but the blood flow she was trying to stop with her bare hands was simply increasing, and she knew that she definitely would be dead soon. "I need to get out of here…" Ophelia hissed and she spun around, as if hoping a door clearly marked EXIT would appear before her.

That's when the houses exploded.

Ophelia screamed at the explosions that echoed in the soundless space: she dropped to the cold hard ground as every house burst into a flurry of orange, yellow and red. The simultaneous explosions were hot and painful, and the pressure was crushing her body against the ground.

"STOP!" She screamed as the sound tore at her eardrums and her uniform was burnt. "LEAVE ME ALONE, STOP THIS!" And all of a sudden, the explosions had stopped. The dramatic change in noise was shocking, and Ophelia lay on the ground, shivering, in pain and still bleeding, her blood forming a pool around her body. Her arms ached as she pushed up from the ground, still shivering, and looked around for signs of destruction.

But she was no longer on the road: Ophelia gasped as she felt dead grass beneath her fingers, and examined her tips to find them covered in ash. How had the ground changed without her noticing? It had been road a moment ago…. Ophelia was very freaked out, and forced herself to stand up, wanting to leave.

Her grandmother was standing in front of her.

"AAAAAAH!" Ophelia screamed and leapt backwards, Beatrice Grant walking slowly towards her. She looked the same as she had the night she died: wispy white hair, dead looking skin and even the same dressing gown and slippers. But Beatrice looked sad and worried, and Ophelia didn't want to listen to her.

"Ophelia… what do you think your doing?" Beatrice whispered. "What are you doing here dressed like that?" She reached out an arm, and Ophelia screamed and batted it away. Beatrice burst into flames at Ophelia's touch, and Ophelia screamed louder than ever as her grandmother turned to ash. A thudding sound came from behind her, and Ophelia turned around, still screaming.

Rows and rows of graves were behind here. They seemed to be stretching off into infinity. Each headstone was identical: grey, curved, and with BEATRICE GRANT: MURDERED BY HER GRANDDAUGHTER engraved into the stone.

"No… no, it wasn't murder… it was an accident…" Ophelia whispered, but nothing seemed to hear her. The ground was still thudding, and Ophelia screamed again as wrinkled old hands burst out of the ground. She continued to scream as, simultaneously, Beatrice Grant's rose from the ground. Ophelia backed away, trying to escape them, as the last words her grandmother said echoed around her in monotone.

"GO AWAY!" She shouted. "I DIDN'T KILL YOU, IT WAS AN ACCIDENT! GO AWAY!" But the army of grandmother's got closer and closer, and Ophelia just screamed in fear as she ran backwards, unable to turn away as she fled for her life. Her right foot suddenly touched open air, a clear difference to touching dead grass, and Ophelia turned around in shock, expecting to see a cliff: it was an empty grave, the dirt dug out sitting in two piles next to it. A gravestone was already there, and Ophelia couldn't help but read the name.

Ophelia Carter.

Ophelia screamed her loudest and longest as she stared into her own grave. She turned around, her grandmother's marching still sounding around her, and felt her heart stop as she stared into the cold, evil face of The Slender Man. Wordlessly he laughed, and Ophelia simply screamed, her grandmother's words echoing around in her head. The Slender Man raised his right hand and slashed up along her wound: Ophelia stumbled, she screamed again, and fell backwards into the darkness, trying to block out the Slender Man's face, her grandmother's final words, and push away the darkness and fear that was enclosing her body…

"Ophelia!"

She awoke with a start.

Ophelia quickly realised several things: she was lying in water, her chest wasn't bleeding, and three women were leaning over her. The nurse looked positively outraged, the schools principal, Mrs Law, looked rather stunned through the thick face of makeup she normally wore, whilst Miss Thompson was fuming with rage.

"I told you to go straight to Mrs Law's office, didn't I?" The media teacher fumed. "I came to give my side of the story, and instead we find you having some sort of seizure on the floor!"

"Good thing we have a spare key," Mrs Law said unhelpfully.

"Look at this mess!" The nurse squawked, giving Ophelia thunderous looks. But Ophelia didn't care: shivering, shaking, mind racing, she got to her feet, pushing through the women as she ignored their yells and grabbed her bag. The Slender Man clearly wasn't in this room anymore, but she had to escape this school. What she had seen was still rushing through her mind, and Ophelia needed to escape, get back to her home and clear her head before anything else happened.

"OPHELIA CARTER, GET BACK HERE!" Miss Thompson screamed, but Ophelia began to run, sprinting through the nurses office, out the hallway and through the sliding glass doors. It was between classes, and Ophelia had to run through an army of students, all of them turning to watch as she ran. Miss Thompson's shouting sounded over the general babble of the students, and Ashley, Ginny and Allison's faces appeared from the crowd, watching Ophelia run with shocked faces. Ophelia simply didn't care, allowing the students to put barriers between her and the teachers as she broke into open ground. The back gates were unlocked, and Ophelia sprinted past the auditorium's construction, rushing through the metal bars and pulling her keys out. The Santa Fe was unlocked with a simple push of a button, and Ophelia flung the drivers door open, flung her bag away as she put her belt on and the keys in the ignition, and than flawed the accelerator: Ophelia needed to get away from the Slender Man, try to put that horrific event behind her, and, as it seemed from the figure shouting in her rear view mirror, she had to escape her teachers as well.


	13. Ophelia's Kitchen Nightmares

**Chapter Thirteen: Ophelia's Kitchen Nightmares**

For the entire drive back to her house, Ophelia's foot barely moved off the accelerator. Cars honked loudly, cats and birds sped off the road to avoid her, and people were left shocked as they were nearly flattened by the blur that was her Santa Fe. Ophelia didn't know what she was doing, and hadn't even seen an old man that she had nearly bowled over if someone hadn't pulled him out of the way just in time. She was driving madly, not paying attention to other cars or other people, and was doing her best to get as quickly to her house as possible and as far away from her school.

The images for her nightmare were still haunting her: her grandmother calling out to her, the houses exploding, and than the Slender Man rising up over her, hands raised. Ophelia didn't know how much more of this she could take, and didn't want her limits to be tested. The Slender Man was able to outwit her at any possible opportunity, and Ophelia felt injured, weak and embarrassed at how badly she was letting him win. She had been driven out of school now, and there was no way she could return without getting into a lot of trouble. Ophelia just wanted to go home and get under her sheets, never worry about anything bad happening ag –CRASH!

"AAAAH!" Ophelia screamed, the airbag exploding in front of her. An alarm was whining in front of her and the Santa Fe was beeping angrily at her, the grey airbag beginning to crush her as she was pinned against the seat. Heart pounding and neck aching, Ophelia groped around for her seat belt and undid it. Pushing the deflating airbag out of the way, Ophelia opened the door and massaged her neck, suffering from whiplash from whatever had happened. It appeared Ophelia had slammed into a small parked car, causing more damage to it than to her own.

"Damnit," Ophelia cursed, and looked around to see if anyone else was around. However the street was deserted, with no one coming to check on the alarm or see what the commotion was. And twirling around revealed something Ophelia hadn't expected: she had driven right outside her house, which stood there tall, solitary and shadowed opposite the street from her.

"Well that's convenient…" Ophelia mumbled, and she reached into the Santa Fe and turned the ignition off and grabbed the keys. Locking the door, she sprinted as fast as possible away from the car, not wanting to be connected to it in case anyone else noticed her. Ophelia was horrified that she had managed to drive to here without even noticing it. Her mind and judgement was absolutely clouded, and Ophelia had no idea what was going on with her.

The car alarm continued to whine as Ophelia raced up the garden path, the shadows sending a chill throughout her body as the sun was disguised by her gigantic house. Her entire body was shaking in fear, and her hands fumbled as she tried to get the house key into the lock. After dropping them twice, the lock finally turned, and Ophelia sprinted inside, her mind and heart racing still.

Her house was eerily quiet. Abigail was still at school and both of her parents were at work. All the lights were out, and the sunlight coming in from the back windows was casting creepy shadows across the floor. Ophelia did her best to ignore them, as she was certain the shadows were moving their way towards her, and raced through her house into the kitchen. She needed to pause for a moment and try and gather her thoughts together. Ophelia didn't want to think about the consequences of being attacked at school and how it would affect her. She just needed to calm down and think about what to do next with the Slender Man.

The Carter's kitchen had recently been renovated in the past six months. It had only been two years old at the time, but Meredith thought it was in need of a touch up. The walls had all been painted wine red and polished wooden cabinets had been placed on the walls and under the benches, giving it a very fancy feeling that Meredith just loved to boast about to guests. The oven, fridge, microwave, sink and all their appliances were a sparkling silver that would shine when it was light, and the white and black checkerboard tiles added to the rich vibe that gleamed from every surface. The benches were a sleek chromed black, and all their dishes and cutlery were the finest metal or china, splashed with elegant and unnecessary flower motifs.

Ophelia usually felt happy being in this room. She and her mother would always make baked delights on weekends and holidays, from cupcakes to cookies, savouries to deserts, delicious breakfasts to eventually conjuring up three course meals. Ophelia loved to cook, and always felt good about entering the kitchen.

But today, after what had happened at school, it seemed cold and uninviting. Her mother had left the silk curtains drawn so everything was as dark as the rest of the house, and Ophelia shivered slightly as she got a glass out of the cupboard on the right wall. She wanted to be able to enjoy being here, and had half a mind to make her Double Chocolate Chip Cookies to take her mind off of things. But doubt was hanging in her mind, stopping her from doing anything happy. Ophelia would most likely be expelled, or suspended at the very least. Her school wasn't a very tolerant place towards destruction to property, and had suspended three fourteen year old the previous year for accidentally breaking a projector screen. No one would believe Ophelia that it hadn't been her fault: she would just be seen as crazy and insane, and would probably get sent to a mental asylum.

Tears were beginning to form, and Ophelia was in desperate need of cheering up before she turned into a blubbering mess. She knew the recipe off by heart to her cookies, and quickly opened the pantry doors to get the things she needed. The ingredients and measurements were helping to take her mind off things, and Ophelia grabbed everything she needed. There was a clutter next to her that made Ophelia's fearful mind jump, but she realised it was only one of the wooden baseball bats her father had hidden around the house "in case in bloody brats try to swipe our stuff!" The words echoed in her head and Ophelia laughed, and scurried over to start making them.

For five minutes, Ophelia was at peace with herself. She cracked her eggs, whisked them together with flour, butter and sugar, and went around turning the oven on and getting utensils and bowls out of their drawers and cupboards. It was good to be at peace in her mind, things calming down, her mind beginning to relax, and soon Ophelia had managed to make the mixture perfectly.

"Excellent," she whispered triumphantly, now carrying a tray with large dollops of mixture spread out over it. The oven was heated and ready to cook, and Ophelia made her way across the kitchen to put them in.

At that moment, the phone rang.

It was like Ophelia's calm world had been shattered. She jumped and screamed as the phone rang throughout the room, the sound surrounding Ophelia and enclosing her in as it bounced across the walls. The tray fell to the floor, the cookie mixture splattering across the checkerboard tiles. Ophelia began to breathe deeply again, all her thoughts rushing back to her as she moved towards the phone, situated on a stand in the living room. It was still ringing and flashing, with 'O'S SCHOOL' appearing on the tiny screen above the numbers.

"Shit," Ophelia said breathlessly, and ignored what was bound to be a bad call, turning instead back towards the kitchen.

Standing there was the Slender Man.

Shock ran throughout her body, but for once Ophelia refused to get scared. She stared into the smirking man's face, who she quickly realised was actually in the glass of the cutlery cupboard rather than standing there, and felt nothing but a dire urge to run forwards and brutally murder him.

"You really should just answer it and get it over with," the Slender Man said mockingly, "it will surely make the pain easier."

"You've got me expelled from my school!" Ophelia growled, moving slowly towards the cupboard. She was going to stand up to him this time, she wouldn't fall for his tricks.

"Now now Ophelia, don't put the blame onto me!" The Slender Man said in a false gasp. "You were the one who destroyed your Media classroom, the one who caused all that drama in the medical room," and as he spoke, explosions sounded in Ophelia's head, simultaneously with cries of 'what do you think your doing?'

"I don't care what you do anymore!" Ophelia hissed. "You're just pathetic, trying to manipulate me with everything that you caused in the first place!" She had left the pantry door open, and was beginning to edge backwards, groping around with her hands. The Slender Man was watching her intrigue, a curious look on his face. "I'm not going to fall into your trick and traps anymore! For once, the ball is in my court," Ophelia said with relish as her hands clasped around what she was looking for, "and I'm going to finally stop you!" And she charged forwards, swinging the baseball bat as she went. The Slender Man's body shattered as the wooden instrument obliterated the glass doors. Happiness and glory flowed through Ophelia as she lit up with joy, wood and glass littering the floor around her: she had done it…. She had finally won!

"I wouldn't celebrate yet if I was you," a vindictive voice said from behind her, and Ophelia turned: the Slender Man's face was in the microwave opposite her, beaming at her with pride. Ophelia cursed angrily, and should've known it wouldn't have been an easy task.

"You can run, you can hide, but there's only so many things to hide in!" Ophelia shouted at him, and grabbed a glass from behind her and through it. The door of the microwave shattered in sparks, but Ophelia had already turned back towards the glasses behind her and was swinging the bat, preventing her enemy from hiding in anything. The shelves collapsed from the weight, and Ophelia screamed and moved as everything collapsed around her. But she couldn't stop now, she had to keep going.

The wooden bat proved deadly for the kitchen, destroying practically anything that could be. The window was completely destroyed, still falling as Ophelia dented the sink and knocked the spout and handle off, sending water cascading across the room. She turned the oven off and shoved the handle through it, leaving the entire machine useless. Glass wine bottles that were neatly displayed around the room were destroyed as well, and Ophelia beamed as the purple liquid poured down the cabinets. As a final act, Ophelia brought the bat down on the pantry shelves, watching as everything glass fell to the floor, than was covered by packets and cans and boxes of food that exploded on top of it.

"Beautiful," Ophelia smirked, watching as sauce, rice, cereal, flour, sugar, chips and chocolate mixed together. She examined the rest of the kitchen: it was completely covered in glass, wood and shattered plates, with water still shooting out of the tap. Her place of peace and happiness had been destroyed, but Ophelia was glad to think that the Slender Man, for once, had been defeated.

Unfortunately, she was wrong.

"Now really Ophelia, you think I was confined to just one room?" A voice laughed behind her, and Ophelia quickly turned around, confused and angry once more. The voice was coming from the living room, and she quickly marched in there. The Slender Man looked as if he was sitting on a bench, but was really just perched on the window, smiling happily towards Ophelia.

"GET OUT!" She screamed, and ran forwards, swinging the bat wildly. The window exploded, and Ophelia screamed in fury as the glass and wood rained down upon her and fell outside. Shadows moved out of the corner of her eye, and Ophelia turned to see familiar hands creeping around a glass covered painting on one side of the room and a family portrait on the other.

"I'll smash everything in this house if I have too!"

"Smash all you want, but that won't destroy me. I'll just find new places to hide, won't I?" The Slender Man purred. Ophelia didn't care about his taunts, and quickly swung the bat, shattering the painting of a dockyard setting. As it fell to the floor, Ophelia turned towards the portrait, bat raised and ready to go. But she paused for a brief second, enough time to recognise the scene at hand: it was about ten years old, showing her five year old self with a ponytail and cheeky toothless smile sitting on her father's lap, whilst a chubby, fringed baby Abigail was perched on their mother's knees. It was a sweet picture, Meredith looking very beautiful and Jeremiah still quite handsome, and Ophelia chuckled at the matching outfits she and Abigail were wearing. She hadn't paid too much attention to this picture for a while, but now it was all coming back to her.

"You win this round," Ophelia called out, the sentiment ending as she snapped out of her rage. The running water was still sounding in the kitchen, and the elderly woman who lived next door had come around the corner to see what the noise was about. As cruel, cold, high laughter rang out all around her, Ophelia dropped the wooden bat to the floor. She glared around for anything reflective, but it seemed the Slender Man had slid away, deciding to taunt her from afar.

"Ophelia deary, what's happened here?" Mrs Owens, the elderly neighbour, asked fearfully as Ophelia stormed out of the house moments later. But Ophelia ignored her as she pulled her phone out and began to search for a number. The whine of the car alarm was still ringing around them, and Ophelia was glad to be getting away as she unlocked her car and climbed in. The airbag was fully deflated and was fairly useless, and Ophelia couldn't remember what to do with it, and pulled it out of the wheel and tossed it in the back.

"Ophelia, what about your house?" Mrs Owens had approached the car window, looking fairly concerned. Ophelia glanced at her as she reversed, a screeching sound of metal coming as she pulled away from the smaller car. She than looked over at her house: it was damaged and clearing showing signs of her destruction to it, but Ophelia couldn't care. The Slender Man had poisoned her home, and there was no way she could live there again.

"I'm sure it'll be alright, it's not going anywhere," Ophelia said sarcastically and shot her neighbour a smile. Mrs Owens gasped and backed away as Ophelia pulled out and pushed down on the accelerator. Again she was racing off, but this time Ophelia was texting, her attention put towards sending her boyfriend a message. She didn't care about the consequences anymore. The Slender Man was winning, and she just had to find a way to defeat him – no matter the cost.


	14. A Turn of Affection

**WARNING: THIS CHAPTER CONTAINS BAD LANGUAGE AND AN ATTEMPTED RAPE SCENE. IF YOU ARE UPSET BY THIS CONTENT, I WOULD RECOMMEND YOU DO NOT CONTINUE READING. **

**Chapter Fourteen: ****A Turn of Affection**

Hours had passed since the incident at the Carter house. The sun had begun to set, turning the sky to a beautiful contrast of pinky orange and darkening blue. Light was fading fast, leaving things dimly lit and strangely shadowed. Whilst the city was continuing to bustle and hustle, Queen Elizabeth Park was already quiet and nearly asleep, a much more settled environment than when Ophelia had last been there. It was completely empty with only the trees remaining, swaying slowly and silently in the dying wind. The grass was undisturbed except for the wind, but Ophelia was staring intensely at the fields, half expecting one of the creeping shadows to move towards her.

After fleeing from her house, Ophelia had gone and picked her boyfriend Sam up and driven around in the Santa Fe. She had forced herself to laugh at his jokes and feign interest at talk about parties she had missed out on and things his friends had done. Her mind was elsewhere, and Ophelia really only focused when her phone buzzed every five minutes. At first the calls had come from her house, followed more quickly by her mother, the calls increasing within minutes. Soon her father and Abigail were calling her, allowing with her aunts and uncles, cousins, Ashley, anyone her parents knew that they hoped would get to her. Sam never charged his phone on, leaving him undisturbed and unaware something was wrong.

All of Ophelia's thoughts were about the Slender Man, so it seemed ironic that she pulled towards the park after driving around for half a day, stopping for periods of time at random places. She laughed to herself as they got out, deciding to crash here for a while. Her phone remained buzzing in the car, around fifty missed calls ignored. Sam held Ophelia and he continued to talk, but she just wanted to be alone, regretting inviting him along. But Ophelia needed him, the plan she had conjured up quickly needing to work.

Whenever she challenged the Slender Man by herself it failed catastrophically. Her plan to smash the reflective surfaces simply damaged the house, and facing him in at school hadn't been better. Ophelia still maintained the courage needed to challenge him, but if she was going to take him on for the third time that day, she would need extra help. And Sam had just the build to help her out.

"Are you alright?" Sam's low voice asked, though it sounded as if it came from far away. Ophelia had barely been listening to him as they lay on a park bench, getting progressively colder as the sun lowered further below the trees.

"Oh, I'm fine," Ophelia replied with a smile, leaning affectionately against her boyfriend's chest. Sam simply nodded and leant back, stroking her hair, Ophelia knowing a satisfied smile would be spread across his face. She was sort of glad her boyfriend wasn't that bright, otherwise he might have realised something was wrong with her. It could be a bit of an annoyance at times when he didn't understand her feelings, and many times Ophelia had had to stop him getting too physical with her.

The sun had set now, the sky now resembling a carpet of liquid black. Light rising up from the city center caused the stars to be drowned and barely visible, leaving the view very bleak and simple. Old lampposts flicked noisily into life, providing dim light but their buzzing noise gave the feeling that someone was near.  
_  
I hope he is… _Ophelia thought viciously. _I'd like to see him face me now! _She was deep in thought, staring towards the spindly shadows of the trees where the Slender Man had appeared before. She was so focused on what she hoped would be an eventual appearance and than confrontation that Ophelia didn't notice as Sam pulled his cellphone out. It was only when the phone chimed in an electronic way, signalling it was on, that Ophelia leapt up in shock, shifting uncomfortably on Sam's leg.

"What are you doing?" She asked nervously.

"Checking my messages, what do you think?" Sam said as he pulled his leg out, rubbing his knee. "Jesus, why do I have so many missed calls? And over thirty text messages, wow!" Ophelia stared at him nervously, watching through the white light of the screen as Sam began to read through the messages. His face became more and more confused as he read each message quickly, and Ophelia began to get worried. She stared around through the darkness, but the Slender Man's distinctive white face was nowhere to be seen.

"Ophelia, what the hell's going on?" Sam asked. "You ran away from school and trashed your house?" Ophelia was getting nervous, her plan falling apart, but she had a feeling she could trust him. He was her boyfriend after all: if she couldn't tell him the truth, than who could she trust? Breathing deeply, Ophelia moved close to him, trying hard not to burst into tears.

"I need to tell you something," she whispered nervously, and Sam leapt up in fear.

"Your not pregnant are you?" He asked, and Ophelia managed a smirk.

"We haven't had sex yet, I'm not bloody pregnant!" She said, rolling her eyes, and Sam simply made an 'oh' face and sat back down. Ophelia wasn't sure what Sam would make of what she was about to tell him after that comment, but she figured it was worth a shot. Quickly she began to explain things, beginning from getting the necklace to what happened at the party. She had never spoken about the Slender Man aloud before to anyone, and went on a roll as she let all her emotions out that had been caged in for the past few weeks. Ophelia moved towards her grandmother's house, but said that it had been the Slender Man who fatally pushed her grandmother, not her. As Ophelia began to explain about what had happened that day, she noticed that Sam was smirking, his smile getting wider and wider, and Ophelia came to an abrupt stop in her explanations.

"Why are you smiling?" She asked nervously, her happiness diminishing. "Do you… do you not believe me?" Sam couldn't contain himself any longer and he began to laugh.

"I'm sorry babe, but the story is just really stupid!" He said, beginning to double over. "Your trying to tell me some tall man has been following you around, murdered your grandmother, destroyed part of your school and stalks you at night, but no one else has seen him or even knows about it?"

"I'm not making it up!" Ophelia squealed, feeling tears build up. She had expected him to be supportive of her, make her feel better, comfort her. But instead he was sitting on the bench trying not to laugh, but failing miserably. Ophelia felt betrayed, and hoped now the Slender Man wouldn't appear, not feeling right enough to deal with him.

"Oh babe, don't cry!" Sam said, laughter still in his voice. Ophelia collapsed onto the bench sniffing, trying not to look at him. "I'm sorry. It's just… your story doesn't make sense! It can't possibly be real!" He put a reassuring hand on her shoulder and managed to twist her around to face him. "Maybe just drop this fantasy, ok? It sounds like some really bad horror movie." Ophelia wanted to raise her voice, argue her case back against him, but she knew there was no point.

There was little chance anyone would be interested in what she had to say about the Slender Man. Many people viewed as her as an idiot, with too many silly ideas for her own good, and would see the Slender Man as some sort of hallucination or side effect of her traumatic experiences. Either that or she would be locked away for good, unable to do anything for herself as she was treated as a nutcase and not given the proper help.

_I hate you… _Ophelia thought nastily in her head, and stared around in the darkness, hoping the shadows heard her thoughts and passed them on to the Slender Man. She wiped her tears and stared back towards Sam, forcing a smile.

"You might be right, I'm sorry for being silly," she said, and Sam smiled back at her. Ophelia knew she was right, but it had been a long shot getting his support. He leaned forwards and kissed her, and Ophelia unenthusiastically kissed back. She didn't feel much love for him at the moment, but didn't want to give the impression that she was upset. Sam continued to kiss her, and Ophelia was pushed back against the park bench, their lips locked together. He moved his arms up and down her arms, and Ophelia simply lay there and took it, too tired and frustrated to care.

But after nearly a minute of kissing, Ophelia was getting annoyed. She wasn't a blow up doll or sex toy, and didn't need to take this. She tried to push back, but Sam put a hand on her shoulder, holding her down. His other hand was unbuttoning the plain white shirt he was wearing, revealing his buff and bronzed chest, a little bit of hair around his navel.

"No Sam, get off me!" Ophelia hissed, pulling away from the kiss. She tried to move but Sam was still holding her down, his hand moving against her chest but with enough force to keep her still. His other hand was holding her other arm, moving in a soft motion but was still in a brutal fashion.

"Come on babe, just give it up," Sam whispered. "There really isn't nothing to it, y'know?" Ophelia was getting scared and was squirming with all her might, but Sam was beginning to use more force, a smile still on his face.

"HELP!" Ophelia screamed, though she knew no one would hear. "HE –," she tried again, but Sam put a hand over her lips, the lamplight revealing an animalistic, angry glare in his eyes.

"Stop it, alright?" He growled, his other hand beginning to unbutton his pants. "If you do this for me, I won't tell anyone about how crazy you're getting, alright?" Ophelia had been to many courses at her school about safe sex and rape, and she knew that there was no way she was going to be forced into unprotected sex on a bench in the middle of a very public park. Sam may be her smoking hot boyfriend, but Ophelia wasn't going to take this, and bit down on his hand.

"FUCK YOU!" She roared as Sam leapt up in pain, blood dripping from his pinky finger. Ophelia reached into her pockets and pulled her keys out, thrusting them as Sam let go of his loose pants. The metal key was jabbed into his tight black boxers and Sam screamed out again. Ophelia leapt up and made a run for it, heading towards her car if anything to get away, but Sam grabbed her around the neck and forced her to the ground, Ophelia very aware that his pants were down and where his crotch was positioned. Still no one was around, leaving Ophelia trapped at his mercy.

"Stupid bitch!" Sam hissed in her ear, his hands moving down towards the school dress she was still wearing. "You'll pay for this!" Ophelia was on the verge of tears again and began squirming, but Sam was using his height and weight as an advantage now. Ophelia had no choice but to do the unthinkable: pulling an arm free, she jabbed the keys into his right eye. As Sam screamed, Ophelia used the momentary distraction to raise him up until his head was level with the park bench.

"Don't think you can try this and get away!" She hissed and grabbed his head as he clutched his eye, smashing it against the wood. Ophelia had so much built up anger from the past few weeks that she couldn't stop, forcing his head down onto the wooden edge another five times. Tears were streaming thick and fast, Ophelia realising blood was beginning to fall from his face but still smashing, the thud of his head on wood echoing.

Finally, after nearly two minutes, Ophelia broke down into tears and dropped his head, collapsing against the bench. She stared down at what had once been a handsome face, the face that she had kissed, the face she talked to and fantasized about. Now blood was pouring from his right eye, his nose and mouth. His eyes were shut and bruised, and a bloody mark was across his forehead.

Ophelia couldn't believe what he had tried to do to her, and could see that he had pulled his underwear partially down, black pubic hair visible in the dim lamplight. But Ophelia couldn't believe what she had just done and stared down at Sam's face. She knew enough about injuries to know that the repeated head trauma had most likely killed him or left him with serious brain damage. Behind her, the light from the lamppost continued to flicker repeatedly until it finally gave up, all light instantly disappearing. Ophelia was left cold and alone in the dark, her tears still streaming, the dead body of her boyfriend lying beside her, and all thoughts of what had just happened rushing through her head.

Once again, Ophelia Carter was a murderer.


	15. Fast and Delirious

**Chapter Fifteen: Fast and Delirious **

Lights flashed briefly past, cars and trees became multi coloured blurs, storm clouds formed overhead to turn the streets into near darkness, the moon's light snuffed out. The sound of the Santa Fe speeding down the street was enough to stir people from their sleep, and the sleek but deadly beast caused a chorus of horns to sound for every red light it tore through without a care in the world.

Though it was the third time that day that Ophelia was tearing through the streets, it was the first time she was proving to be a deadly force. Her foot never left the accelerator, never touching the brake, never coming to a stop. Red lights were a mild inconvenience to her, treated as greens but with more of a risk. Cars full of people were sent spiralling to a stop to avoid the larger Four Wheel Drive, empty buses taking up whole intersections as they spun to halts and smashed through cars. Several pedestrians on late night walks or heading home were forced to sprint across the road or leap back to the footpath, their normally quiet streets being torn up.

Ophelia had no idea the trouble she was causing, and could barely see anyway. Her hands and feet were steady, but tears poured like a waterfall down her face, dripping down onto her school uniform that had remained on throughout her journeys today. She was shaken by what had happened less than ten minutes before, and wanted to escape from what she had done, try and repress it all again.

But first, Ophelia had to get rid of the evidence.

It had been easier than she expected to move Sam's body. Crying and sobbing, but with fierce determination, Ophelia pulled him through the park and back towards the car. She didn't bother to tidy him up, partially as he was dead and mostly due to how he had just treated her. With grass stains down his back and small tears from going across gravel, Sam's limp body was heaved onto the back seat of the Santa Fe, lying flat across the comfortable fabrics as if he was in a coffin. Ophelia didn't care how he was treated at the moment, and simply lay him there; tears begin to stream as she looked at her boyfriend's dead body.

Driving off with him behind her, Ophelia could feel her stomach and heart almost tearing apart. She had killed another person, killed them for very little reason. Though Sam had deserved this more than Beatrice, Ophelia didn't feel any better about it. She had loved him, and had always hoped he loved her back. He had been her first major, long term boyfriend, and Ophelia didn't think she would ever be able to get over the fact that he tried to rape her and that she resorted to murder.

Tearing through another red light, the bright colour a blur and the sound of horns ignored, Ophelia noticed the headlights catch the luminous yellow of a warning sign: SCHOOL ZONE – REDUCE SPEED. About three primary schools were in the surrounding suburbs to Green Meadows College, and many tickets were handed out to parents speeding during a time period in the morning and afternoon as they raced to pick their children up and get back to their days. There were no tickets handed out at night, but Ophelia was close to her destination. Rather than find a new place to hide Sam's body, Ophelia would simply find a place in the new auditorium's construction and dump the body in there, were hopefully no one else will ever find him. The school was fast approaching, and Ophelia tried to stop herself from crying, getting ready to do the most horrible thing she had ever done…

Suddenly, thunder boomed high above, a fork of lightning flashed nearby, and Ophelia screamed as a figure appeared in the passenger seat.

Anyone watching would have seen the car temporarily swerve, smashing into a parked Honda before skidding forwards, but than the floodgates of the sky opened and the rain began to bucket down, and the car disappeared in a shower of grey.

Ophelia's windscreen wipers came on automatically, but they were useless against the rain that was suddenly pouring down. Breathing deeply, her heart racing and eyes still blurred, Ophelia was tempted to put the brakes on and stop, eyeing the figure now sitting next to her.

"There's no need to stop," the Slender Man purred. "Your losing daylight with all this rain: you'll want to get to the school before it gets too dark." He glanced across as Sam's limp body behind her, a smile creeping across his pale face. Ophelia had no idea why he was here, but simply kept on driving, trying to ignore him and focus on getting to her school.

"I must say Ophelia, I didn't know you had it in you," the Slender Man continued. "Killing your grandmother was an accident, I can understand that, but your bashed your boyfriend's head in with very little reason, tut tut."

"It was your fault my grandmother died," Ophelia hissed back at him, "and Sam deserved it. He was going to rape me."

"And you don't think you deserved that?" The Slender Man replied bluntly, and Ophelia simply scoffed, tearing her eyes away from the curtain of rain for one second to see his smirking face. "You dress in a rather promiscuous manner, and have been stringing him along for some time. He clearly thought that you wanted to sleep with him, as I think any male of your species would. And, let's not forget, you have been a very naughty girl lately. This could be some sort of, what's the word… karma…," The Slender Man said with smile widening, "this has all been karma, hasn't it?"

"Shut up!" Ophelia hissed, tears beginning to form again. She could see the green fields of her school coming up through the grey, and pushed down on the accelerator, doing her best to try and get out of here.

"Face the facts Ophelia, they aren't going to go anywhere," the Slender Man said. "Only a few short weeks ago you were a nasty little bitch who got whatever she wanted from her parents, her friends and her boyfriend. You expected everything to revolve around you, and are beginning to have a little tantrum because life isn't all that rosy right now."

"I said shut up!" Ophelia hissed, the engine beginning to roar at its loudest that evening, challenging the rain to see who could be louder.

"You are a murder Ophelia!" The Slender Man shouted, his hands beginning to rise towards her neck. "Sam should have raped you, you deserved it you little slut!"

"SHUT UP!"

"You are a foul, useless waste of space in society, and you deserve to be killed a thousand times over! I should kill you, right here, right now!"

"SHUT UP SHUT UP SHUT UP!" Ophelia screamed through tears, turning towards the school.

That was when the hands struck her.

Ophelia screamed as two sturdy hands grasped around her neck, the rain now thundering against the car roof with the same sound as the firing of a gun. The car began to spin as Ophelia knocked the wheel, failing to control it as the tyres slipped on the wet tarmac and mud left by the diggers. The Slender Man was no longer next to her, but the hands against her throat were strong and beginning to squeeze the life out of her.

"You bitch!" Sam hissed in her ear. "What were you going to do: dump my body in the mud and hoped that would finish me off! You've just left me with a fucking bad headache and a very strong temper," Sam growled, and smacked her head against the headrest. Ophelia screamed and cried as the car continued to spin, unable to control the steering wheel as she gasped for breathe, unable to see anything except the rain and the grey clouds blurring around her.

"Stop the car, let me out!" Sam shouted. "I want to finish what I started!" Ophelia tried to talk, but the words caught in her throat. She began to cry tears of sorrow, feeling the worst she had all night. She was about to raped and then murdered by the boy she thought had loved her. Ophelia tried to reach for the brake, willing to stop and get it over with, finally put her out of the misery she'd lived for so long. There was no way she could take it any longer, not after what the Slender Man had said…

But than the car left the road.

In the pouring rain that turned everything to grey, neither Ophelia nor Sam had seen the car skid through the mud and head straight towards the edge of the new amphitheatre's construction site. One minute, the car had been speeding out of control, Sam grasping at Ophelia's throat as she tried to scream for help. The next, all four wheels had left the road, where the car sped through the air for a few seconds, both occupants realising what was about to happen.

Than it began to tip.

Sam screamed and let go of Ophelia's neck, allowing her to scream as well. Her heart leapt up into her throat and her stomach took its place, her entire world turning upside down as the car tilted and fell. Sam, having no belt, fell down onto the roof, landing on it with a painful thud. Ophelia, with no idea of what to do, pulled a lever in her seat, causing it to flip backwards and give herself more space between her body and the ground fast approaching. Ophelia tried to say something to Sam, but the words couldn't form, only the tears that continued to flow in a torrent.

The car smashed into the wet ground, back of the roof first. Ophelia screamed as the roof was torn to shreds, Sam falling and disappearing in a series of sparks, metal and mud. Water splashed against her face as the roof caved in, but the car began to flip before it could hit her. Ophelia's screams echoed in the greying night as the car rotated 360 degrees about four times, every window shattering, the front axle ripping from the rest of the body, the spare tyre flying inches from her face, the doors all caving in. She screamed for her mother, her father, for Sam to be alright, and secretly screamed for the Slender Man's words to be lies. But than the car stopped, hitting one side of the hole, and Ophelia's head smashed against the caved in roof. Everything instantly went black, cutting off the sounds of destruction, pounding rain and distant thunder, removing all thoughts of Sam and what sort of person she was.

The only thing Ophelia heard as she slipped into unconsciousness was a high, cold laughter, sounding all around her.


	16. Three Times Lucky

**Chapter Sixteen: Three Times Lucky**

Ophelia awoke with a start.

Though the light above was bright, making it hard to adjust to, Ophelia could tell straight away where she was. She was lying down, feeling stiff and could hear general noise around here: for the third time in only a short while, Ophelia was in hospital.

It took her a few moments to remember why she was here, and as her eyes adjusted, it all came back to her. Thundering grey rain, cold hands on her throat, the ground rising up towards her… Ophelia gasped as she remembered the details of the crash, from where it had occurred to how many times her mothers car had spun across the ground. She moved her hands up and down her body, relieved and shocked to not be injured: the accident had been very severe, why wasn't she showing signs of injury? It was almost as if the crash hadn't happened, but Ophelia was desperate to find things out.

"Good to see you're awake," a voice said, and Ophelia nearly jumped as she saw Doctor Jones appear in her line of sight, his fingers moving across a button. The bed gave a slight shudder, and Ophelia found her bed folding up, putting her into a sitting position. There was a slight twinge in her stomach, and Ophelia was left with even more questions.

"Your vitals look normal. A few more tests and you'll be ready to go," Doctor Jones said once the bed had stopped moving, and he flashed Ophelia a smile, but the teenager noticed something in his eyes. They looked nervous, almost as if he was afraid of being around her. Voices were sounding from outside in the hospital's hallway, and Ophelia was certain she heard her name.

"Doctor, what's going on?" Ophelia asked, her voice croaky than she anticipated. "Why am I in hospital, I don't appear to be in any pain."

"I'd hope you wouldn't be, you've been in a medically induced coma for two weeks," Doctor Jones said calmly, a hint of nervousness in his voice. Ophelia gasped and slipped back in her bed, the shock rushing over her. What had happened to her? How had two weeks slipped right past her? How had she survived the crash? Sam… though he had attacked her, had her boyfriend survived as well? It was too confusing of a thing to wake up too, and Ophelia was feeling distressed.

"Doctor, please, what happened?" Ophelia asked, her head beginning to race. "I want to know about Sam, and my injuries, and the car… please, what happened?" Doctor Jones looked even more nervous, and glanced back towards the door where voices were still echoing from, but glanced down at Ophelia and sighed.

"I don't know how your car crashed or why, but you crashed at a building site at your school," the doctor explained quickly. "Some of the builders were having a few drinks when they heard the smash. They called an ambulance, but couldn't risk going down to check in the rain. Once it died down though, I heard that they were horrified at how destroyed the car was. The ambulance and fire department were able to rescue you and brought you here straight away. You had internally bleeding around your stomach and fractures in your ribs. We fixed the bleeding, and your coma has allowed your ribs to heal without disturbances."

"Okay…." Ophelia mumbled, nodding along as he spoke, and her hands felt around her stomach, earning her another pang of pain. "What about Sam, where is he, is he alright?" She looked up at her doctor and saw that his eyes were glancing away, his face looking fairly uncomfortable. "Tell me!" Ophelia shouted.

"The car fell from a great height Ophelia, there was no way it could have withstood the crash," Doctor Jones explained in a shaky voice. "It was practically torn apart when the fire department arrived from what I heard. Sam wasn't wearing a seat belt, and was thrown from the back. He had severe internal bleeding in his stomach and around his head, and his ribs had cracked and punctured his right lung. There was no way he could have survived without medical treatment for as long as he did. Sam passed away in the ambulance." Ophelia gasped, a feeling that she had just been punched rushing over her. Tears began to fall before she even realised, but within seconds Ophelia had collapsed into a sobbing mess. Sam had been good in the time they'd spent together, and Ophelia couldn't believe she had just lost him. It was her fault, she had been driving, she had killed him… but he had strangled her, causing her to spin out of control. Sam had only strangled her though because she had beaten his head in, but that was because he had tried to rape her… Ophelia didn't know if she should be angry or relieved about this death, and the tears fell harder. She had loved Sam with all of her heart, how could she not miss him, regret his loss, feel guilty about his death.

"It'll be alright, you'll be fine," Doctor Jones said, and gave her a reassuring hug. Ophelia simply continued to cry, feeling the tears streaming down her face. Her stomach was beginning to hurt more constantly, but she couldn't care less about it right now.

"My word is final, Mrs Carter, you must accept it and more on!" The door suddenly burst open, and Doctor Jones spiralled around as a group of people walked in. Ophelia noticed her mother walking in with them, crying just as hard as her daughter was, and was surprised to recognise the two policeman accompanying her.

"Hello Ophelia, nice to see you again," the grey haired doctor who had interrogated her about her grandmother's death said, though his voice didn't have the same friendly warmth it had had last time. His red haired partner was holding onto Meredith's shoulders, a grim expression on her face.

"What's going on, have you caught the killer?" Ophelia asked in a timid voice, knowing that their appearance was not good. Did they know she had killed Beatrice, or were they here about Sam, or possibly her school, or possibly some other crime Ophelia had down and she had no memory about. Her tears began to cease as Ophelia shook nervously, wondering what was about to be said.

"Funnily enough, we have," the policeman said. "We were reviewing every single security tape from Green Meadows Retirement Village, looking for someone that fitted the description of who you believed to be the perpetrator. However, we weren't able to find anyone matching the description. In fact, you were the only person that go into Beatrice Grant's apartment that night, and you were the only non resident in the village that night."

"What!" Ophelia screamed, putting all her drama lessons into use. "That can't be true, someone was in that room with us, someone –," but the policeman raised his hand to silence her.

"Our suspicions turned to you, but we didn't have any idea why you would be involved. But two weeks ago we received a phone call from your school, saying that you had vandalized a classroom and the nurse's office before fleeing the school," the policeman explained, his voice getting graver. "Officer Jean and I went to your house and found it unlocked and with severe damage inside. Your neighbour informed us of how you had crashed into a parked car before destroying your house, and we began looking for the Santa Fe. After a few hours, a call came over the radio saying that two women walking their dogs had seen a teenage girl dragging her boyfriend through the park, followed by calls about a Santa Fe driving recklessly through –"

"HE TRIED TO RAPE ME!" Ophelia screamed, unable to hold it in. Her heart was beating the fastest it ever had, and Ophelia knew what they were getting at, but she wasn't going to let them say it. "He tried to sleep with me and I didn't want to so he got forceful. I hit his head only once, I didn't mean to!" She shouted, and Meredith burst into tears, putting her head into the Officer Jean's shoulder.

"So you were going to take him to the hospital then?" The grey haired officer asked.

"Yes, of course!" Ophelia lied instantly. "But than the Slender Man began talking to me and distracted me, so I drove into the school grounds, and than Sam began strangling me!"

"Ophelia did had marks around her neck that looked like an attempted strangulation," Doctor Jones contributed, but the grey haired officer waved a hand angrily.

"Firstly, going towards the school is the opposite direction to this hospital, and secondly, how the hell is the Slender Man?" He yelled angrily. Ophelia paused for a second, wondering how to answer this. Sam hadn't believed her when she tried to explain it, and it seemed as if no one in her school had noticed him when he destroyed the projector. Ophelia had to tell the truth, and she knew this involved explaining about him – it could very well get her off the hook.

"The Slender Man is this really tall, really pale guy that wears a suit and has no eyes or ears," Ophelia began explaining, ignoring the looks she was receiving. "He has been following me for weeks! He was the one who killed my grandmother, and he was the one who vandalised the classroom. He tricked me into destroying my house, and I'm pretty sure he caused all these people to faint back at the park a few weeks ago. He is really creepy, and you guys need to go after him, not me!"

"Your not believing this bull, are you Rob?" Officer Jean snapped bitchily, and Ophelia shot her a nasty look. But Rob, the grey haired officer, simply sighed angrily and glared down at Ophelia.

"I've worked in the force for nearly twenty years and NEVER have I heard such a stupid story!" He growled. "There were no pale suited people wandering around Green Meadows, no one at your school mentioned this man, and how did he manage to escape the car crash uninjured and without the workers noticing him?"

"He can hide in reflective surfaces!" Ophelia shouted, the tears streaming again. "You have to believe me, this guy is a lunatic! He has tried to destroy my life constantly, you need to stop him!" Ophelia knew they didn't believe her, but she just hoped they wouldn't put the blame on her. Rob looked at Ophelia with a bit of an angry scowl, and than glanced towards the nervous Doctor Jones and finally at Officer Jean and the weeping Meredith.

"I'm rather sorry to do this, but I have no choice," the aging officer sighed. "Ophelia Carter, you are under the arrest for reckless driving causing damage and the death of Samuel Thomas, destruction of property and the suspected murder of Beatrice Grant."

"WHAT!" Ophelia screamed as the shock rushed through her body. This was insane… she may have caused these things, but the Slender Man was responsible. "It wasn't me, it was the Slender Man, I'm telling the truth! Arresting me just means he'll find someone else to torture!"

"Tell it to the judge!" Rob said angrily, and he went to grasp onto her hands, ready to recite her rights to her. But Ophelia saw him lunge and made a very quick decision. This was all the Slender Man's fault, not hers, and she had to prove it if she wanted to be found innocent. Without really thinking, Ophelia swung a closed fist towards the police officer. It hit him in the stomach, causing him to stumble backwards and trip over a series of tubes.

"I'M INNOCENT!" Ophelia screamed, leaping to her feet and sending Doctor Jones scrambling backwards.

"Stop this Ophelia, don't make it harder than it already is!" Officer Jean said, pulling a pair of handcuffs out. Ophelia seemed glared back at her and grabbed the sides of her bed, ready to push the thing forwards if she had to. Meredith collapsed against the floor, weeping harder than ever, her tears ruining her make up and causing black streaks down her face. Ophelia stared at her mother, a horrible feeling of guilt rising up inside of her. She didn't want to put her through this, but Ophelia knew that she was doing the right thing. She wasn't going to go to jail for crimes she wouldn't have committed if it hadn't been for the Slender Man, and she had to do prove herself innocent.

"Don't worry mum," Ophelia shouted, "I will find the Slender Man and I'll be able to return home! I will get him and I will prove my innocence, I –," but Ophelia froze as something painful throbbed in her arm. She glanced down, trying to bite down the pain, and saw a needle sticking out of a vein just above her elbow.

"I am sorry Ophelia," Doctor Jones said as he pushed down, forcing a clear liquid into her blood stream, "but I think you need help, and I can't just let you leave." Ophelia stared at the needle, shocked, but rage quickly took over. She had had a chance to escape, but already she was beginning to feel weak, beginning to feel whatever sort of sedative it was work its way through her body. Officer Jean began to walk forwards, all hopes of clearing her name dashed.

"HOW DARE YOU!" Ophelia screamed, and she pulled the needle out of her body with her right hand. Doctor Jones simply looked shocked as Ophelia jammed it into his arm wrist, his shout echoing inside the room. Ophelia smiled widely, but the pain caused him to let go of her. She hadn't even noticed him holding her, but now Ophelia collapsed to the ground, the drug taking effect. Her vision was beginning to blur, her entire body relaxing. Officer Jean began to read her rights out, but it all sounded as if it was coming from the end of a tunnel. There was only one thing Ophelia could hear as she began to fall back into a sleep: a series of words, high and cold, sounding constantly around her head. Her eyes went dark and her body numb, but Ophelia could still hear the words as if they'd just been said, and knew exactly who was saying them.

_You deserve to be killed a thousand times over_


	17. From Worse to Unbearable

**Only four chapters left after this one, and they will all be posted over the next week! Get ready to see just how trilling the final parts of this tale will be!**

**Chapter Seventeen: From Worse to Unbearable **

It had been a week since Ophelia had woken up, and her life had taken an even bigger turn for the worse.

She was currently residing in a special section of the Green Meadows Minimum Security Prison. It was a ward for "mentally unstable" people who were a threat to those around them. After attacking Doctor Jones and the police officers, Ophelia had woken up from being drugged in this room. Rob, the grey haired police officer, whose actual name was Robert Copper, a name that made a slight hint of a smile cross Ophelia's face, was waiting for her. He explained that she the charges against her had been put to the side for the time being, but a police psychologist was going to evaluate her.

"But I'm not crazy!" Ophelia had screamed, but Mr Copper simply let her be, closing and locking the door and saying through a hatch that they would come and get her when they were ready. Ophelia didn't have a watch or a clock in her room, and in fact only had a bed with thin sheets and rock hard pillow, a sink and a toilet. She had had nothing to do, the only option being to lie on her bed and think about what had happened, how she had gotten this way.

Ophelia didn't care what anyone said. The Slender Man was the cause of all these things. She would never kill her grandmother on purpose, or be that harmful to Sam, even after what he had done. She wasn't a bad person, and hadn't done these things in order to hurt anyone. It was the Slender Man with his manipulating ways and supernatural abilities that was causing this. He had tricked for so long that Ophelia couldn't even remember how long it had been. He haunted her dreams, he was ruining her life, and Ophelia was receiving all of the blame, and it simply wasn't fair.

But when Ophelia tried explaining all of this to the psychologist, he simply made a face and scribbled notes down on his pad of paper. The psychologist, Doctor Frank Parsons, had short, slick grey hair but a fuzzy ginger beard, and seemed to permanently wear a white coat with a grey vest underneath, a visitors badge pinned obviously to the coat pocket. Ophelia found it an annoying reminder of how while she was the one being evaluated for being mental, she remained trapped inside a drab grey prison with people even crazier than her, whilst her 'expert' doctor got to leave the world of madness behind and lead a perfectly normal lifestyle.

Doctor Parsons would ask questions about Ophelia: her family, her friends, her relationship to Sam and Beatrice, how school was going, if she drank or did drugs, if she had ever had a traumatic personal experience. Ophelia didn't find any of the questions that came her way helpful at all, and simply answered the questions and then protested her innocence, trying to explain about the Slender Man. She explained about how she thought the necklace was involved, about the Slender Man appearing when the fan crushed her, how she had tried to explain things to Sam and than he attacked her. However, Doctor Parsons favourite term seemed to be that "there isn't any proof", meaning that most of Ophelia's claims were unable to be proved.

At the end of each one hour session, Doctor Parsons would take his thick black glasses off and clutch the rim of his nose, sighing. He would write a final note on his pad, sigh again, and stand up, signalling to the guards. "Sleep well, Miss Carter," he would say, in a tone that would suggest Ophelia was dying, and would then leave. A guard would than escort Ophelia back to her cell, past more cells of people screaming and yelling, banging against the doors, bellowing their own innocence or asking for help with the fairies that were in the room with them. This was the only time Ophelia was scared, listening to all of these people yelling and making horrible noises, people that were actually insane. It was unfair how she was being locked up alongside these people, when she wasn't even the slightest bit crazy.

The time spent alone in her room, trapped by herself, her only company the dim sunlight coming through the barred window and the yellow glow from the lights above her at night. Ophelia had never spent a week alone like this, without anyway of contacting anyone or seeing her family and friends. These things were banned for the first two weeks, but Ophelia knew they wouldn't want to come. Who wanted to spend time with someone who was being accused of murdering their grandmother and boyfriend? Even when Ophelia managed to get out of here when they learned she wasn't crazy, who was going to want to talk to her?

This was Ophelia's life for the first week. Though the normal prisoners were usually allowed out of their rooms, this group were kept under close supervision as to not cause any harm to themselves or others. Ophelia sat in her room, alone, staring at the piles of books and schoolwork they had brought in for her, though they hadn't given her a pencil as that could be used as a weapon, apparently. All meals were brought to her, so the only time Ophelia left her room was for those one hour sessions. It was lonely and depressing, and she could feel herself being weakened the longer she stayed here. Ophelia just simply spent all day and most of the night lying on her bed, thinking about how her life had gone so wrong.

A week after Ophelia had woken up in hospital, things managed to get worse.

"Dinner time," a voice grunted on the other side of the door. Ophelia had only just gotten back from Doctor Parsons and looked up as a hatch swung open, and a guard shoved a tray of food through the slot. Ophelia felt animalistic being fed like this, but rushed forwards as her stomach growled.

"Thank you," she called through the hatch, but the guard merely grunted and slammed the hatch, locking it up. Ophelia sighed and sat back on her chair, examining the meal in front of her. A vegetable soup, some questionable looking store-brought chicken nuggets, a bread roll that would be as hard as cardboard if she bit into it and a measly tub of vanilla ice cream for desert. There was only one plastic spoon for both the soup and ice cream, and both of them had an almost friendly label of "Green Meadows Prison" on them in happy green writing.

"Why the hell is everything Green bloody Meadows?" Ophelia fumed to herself as she took a bite one nugget and spat it out again a moment later. "My school's Green Meadows, the retirement village is Green Meadows, you could even say the park is one giant green meadow! Nothing particularly green or meadowy about my life at the moment, but I'm surrounding by Green Meadows!" Ophelia began to laugh as she took several sips of the soup, her laughter causing it to slop over her prison uniform.

"Talking to yourself is the first sign of insanity, and I think making words up is right up there as well," a voice suddenly hissed in Ophelia's ear, causing her to scream and drop her tray onto the floor, "but everyone already knows you're insane, don't they?" Ophelia leapt to her feet, though stood on her spilt soup and squashed the chicken nuggets, but didn't care as she stared up into the Slender Man's face.  
"What are you doing here?" Ophelia hissed as the pale man backed towards the wall. "You've put me here, so unless you're going to prove my innocence, then fuck off, I'm not in the mood!" The Slender Man simply smiled and stroked Ophelia's face, making her shiver in disgust.

"Ophelia darling, you've put yourself here, haven't you realised this yet?" He said. "You can put as much of the blame on me as you like, but that won't stop the truth from being the truth. You pushed your grandmother over, you damaged your school and house, you killed Sam –,"

"NO, IT WAS YOU!" Ophelia screamed back, grabbing the plastic spoon from the floor, the only weapon she had, though it just made the Slender Man laugh.

"I didn't make you do any of that," he replied, smirking slightly. "You acted on your own accord, and if you just admit you're guilty, the judge might be lenient on you when you get charged."

"I'm not going to jail for your crimes!" Ophelia screamed, and ran towards the door as the Slender Man reached out to touch her. An idea quickly formed in her head as she stared at the figure advancing towards her: Doctor Parsons wanted proof, didn't he…?

"HELP!" She screamed, and began banging on the door. "THE SLENDER MAN IS HERE, HELP ME, HE'S GOING TO KILL ME!" She put her whole body weight into beating on the door, smiling over at the Slender Man as he stood frozen, almost shocked at what she was doing. "HELP ME, SOMEONE, PLEASE!"

"You foolish girl, you are only making things worse for yourself!" The Slender Man snapped back, but Ophelia ignored her as she heard the sound of footsteps racing down the corridor.

"You're going down!" She hissed triumphantly, taking a step backwards as the door was flung open. Three guards were there with their batons raised, and Ophelia was stunned to see Doctor Parsons was with them.

"I was walking past when I heard your screaming and called the guards," the doctor explained as the guards came in, looking under her bed and behind her, which Ophelia thought was rather odd. "Now Ophelia, where is the Slender Man?"

"Right in front of you!" Ophelia screamed and looked around, her jaw dropping as she did so. Somehow, as always, the Slender Man had faded away. The tiny amount of hope that had risen up at the sound of the guards faded as Ophelia realised what he had done: he had escaped in the nick of time, just to make her seem crazier.

"Check the shadows and the windows, he must be here, somewhere!" Ophelia began to say as the guards exchanged bemused looks. "Close the door, he might be able to escape, its wide –,"

"Ophelia, do you want to have another talk?" Doctor Parsons asked.

"NO, I'M NOT MAD, HE WAS HERE!" Ophelia screamed, leaping off her bed and looking around the cell. It was tiny though, and it wasn't long before she collapsed on her bed in shock. They would think she was even madder, they would probably begin doing things to her, lock her up under the careful watch of a whole herd of doctors…

"Come on, nothing to see here," Doctor Parsons sighed, stepping asides for the guards to leave. Ophelia leant against the wall, head in her hands, wondering what was going to happen next.

"Nothing but another crazy bitch," a large male guard whispered, and his two female colleagues laughed. Ophelia looked up, the words washing over her. She could see Doctor Parsons looking rather shocked, but she didn't care for him as she slowly got up, looking towards the fat guard as he waddled to the door. Ophelia wanted to control herself, but a cold voice was whispering in her head _Do it, hurt him, harm him… just like the others…_

"HOW DARE YOU!" She screamed, causing the guard to turn. Ophelia grabbed her tray and ran forwards before the guards could take the situation in and smashed it against his nose. The female guards gasped as the fat guard's head hit the wall, blood spurting out of his nose. Ophelia grabbed her plastic spoon and snapped it in half, ramming the sharp points into his fat stomach as Doctor Parsons called for order that didn't come. The female guards grabbed onto Ophelia and she screamed and kicked out, hitting them in the shins, but they managed to get a hold on her.

"HE INSULTED ME! HE CAN'T GET AWAY WITH IT!" Ophelia screamed as Doctor Jones ran forwards, looking rather frazzled, and pulled a needle out. It all seemed very déjà vu to Ophelia as the needle went into her arm, causing her body to go limp, and she wondered where she would wake up next time. She continued to scream until she began to black out, glad to have gotten her emotions out that had been bottled up and bubbling below the surface for days. As her eyes went black, words flowing through her mind, Ophelia swore she could see the Slender Man smiling up at her from the corridor, waving his long, spider like hand at her as she drifted away into his clutches once more, her troubles far from being over.


	18. A Party in Solitary Confinement

**Three chapters left! **

**Chapter Eighteen: A Party in Solitary Confinement **

Ophelia was more alone than she had ever been in her entire life.

When she had awoken this time, Ophelia found herself in another room that looked identical to her current one, but there were two significant details as she looked around: firstly, there was no window, and secondly, the door seemed to have several large locks on it based on the large bolts near the right frame.

"Hello?" Ophelia had called, trying to get someone's attention, but no one responded, despite the fact she continued to call for what felt like an hour. She began to break down in tears as her voice got hoarse, and Ophelia sobbed as she banged on the door, wondering why no one was answering her, and continued to bang until her knuckles went red and came close to bleeding. Only then did someone appear: the black pair of glasses of Doctor Parson's appeared in a tiny slot, staring towards Ophelia's bleary eyes.

"You are in solitary confinement," he explained before Ophelia can say anything, but her voice had long since faded away. "You are going to stay here until I work something out. I have received a call and someone may have a solution for you, but it is a long shot and I need to talk to a few people. Injuring that guard hasn't worked in your favour and has been added to your list of charges. Just stay here, be quiet, and don't do anything to draw attention to yourself," the doctor concluded, and the hatch slammed shut.

So Ophelia did just that: she tilted back onto her bed, which seemed extra uncomfortable for her solitary pleasure, and sobbed silently into the space where a pillow should have been, but it seemed she hadn't been given one.

She thought about how and why this had all happened to her. A few weeks ago, Ophelia had turned sixteen and her life was perfect: decent parents, a sister that stayed out of her way, adoring boyfriend, adoring friends, passable marks at school. Topped off with an amazing house with amazing things inside and amazing things she got for her birthday, Ophelia had been living a dream life of any teenage girl, and it had been wonderful.

What had she done then to deserve any of this? What had Ophelia done to bring the Slender Man to her, to get accused of two violent murders, to have her name turned to mud and her image shattered like a rock through a window? None of it was fair, and Ophelia didn't want to be living it. She should be surrounded by her friends and family, living her nice life, getting nice things, getting by in school by being a nice person.

"Why…," Ophelia whispered to herself, her tears forming a puddle on the bed that so many people must have slept on. Ophelia shouldn't be in this prison, being locked up and ignored. She demanded and deserved attention, not being put in solitary confinement. Did the things Doctor Parsons say have any truth to them at all, or was he just trying to distract her to make her shut up?

No one was coming for Ophelia. She would stay in this cell for the rest of her days, being ignored no matter how loud she screamed and how hard she banged on the door. She was alone, alone and helpless in a world she didn't belong in…

"Foul, disgusting, pathetic little girl!"

Ophelia froze in her sobbing, the voice hissing around the room. For a moment she thought it was the Slender Man, but the voice was too feminine, too croaky, too high pitched to him. It took her a few moments, but Ophelia gasped as she worked out who it was and slowly looked up.

"Look at you, crouched up there like a silly little dog!" Beatrice Grant hissed, wearing the same dressing gown and slippers she had worn on the night of her death. "Back in my day, my father would have struck me if I sat on my bed all day and cried my eyes out, you foul little monster! But back in my day, little girls didn't go around killing their grandmothers!"

"I d-d-didn't kill you!" Ophelia protested hoarsely, getting up to lean against the wall. "It w-was the Sl-Slender Man…"

"HA!" Beatrice scoffed, before breaking out in a coughing fit. "If the police didn't believe you, do you seriously think I will? I was there, remember _darling_? I know who pushed me, I know who came to my house and destroyed it! Imagine what your grandfather would say if he was around!"

"I'm telling the truth!" Ophelia hissed, trying to keep her voice down.

"I always knew your parents had stuffed you up, with your slutty dresses and flash electrical devices!" Beatrice hissed. "You should have been taught to sit down and learn from a book how to be a proper woman, not shape yourself after that cow of a mother!"

"My mother isn't a –," Ophelia began to say, shocked, but a laugh distracted her and she turned around.

"I don't even think Ophelia knows how to read something that isn't a text," Sam snarled as he walked towards Beatrice's side, also wearing the same clothes he had worn when he died (Beatrice tutted at his unbuttoned pants and visible pubic hair). "You really are a moron, aren't you Ophelia? You just wanted me around to make you look cool to all your stupider little friends! Pity you weren't a sex toy, then _I_ could have benefited slightly from the relationship!"

"Never had sex, did you?" Beatrice gasped. "Goodness Ophelia, you dress just like those street corner hookers, I am surprised!"

"Stop it, why are you insulting me?" Ophelia whimpered, tears beginning to flow again.

"Aww, look at the little baby, boo hoo!" Sam jeered and Beatrice let out a croaky laugh. "Why are we insulting you? Here's a question: why did _you _kill us, you crazy bitch? I think that the fact you took our lives means we get to have a say, wouldn't you agree?" As Beatrice nodded, Ophelia screamed as their bodies suddenly changed: Beatrice's body was burning and roaring with flames, while Sam's bones were all broken and blood was spurting from all pores.

"The truth hurts, doesn't it?" Ophelia began to breathe deeply and repeatedly, but watched as Sam and Beatrice, back to normal, parted, revealing some new faces: Doctor Jones walked forwards holding a clipboard and syringe, flanked by Officers Rob Copper and Jean. "You need to face the facts Ophelia, and that's the fact you're a killer," the handsome doctor said, and he held up the clipboard: the words 'Murderous Slut' were written across the paper in what appeared to be dripping blood.

"Finally, some other witnesses," Rob said, looking at Beatrice and Sam. "I'll just ask you both a few questions, and Officer Jean will jot them down for me. Are you fine with that?"

"Definitely," Sam and Beatrice said together, and they sat side by side on the toilet as the officers began to interview them, leaving Doctor Jones to scowl down at her.

"Don't listen to them, their biased, they'll just tell lies about me!" Ophelia shrieked desperately, but Officer Jean shot her a scowl and she fell silent. Ophelia couldn't believe this was happening to her: where had all these people come from, how had they gotten into the prison, and why were they harassing her?

"We're harassing you because we don't like, you dumb tart," Doctor Jones sneered as if he could read her mind, and the others all began to laugh. Their laughter echoed around the room, beating off all the surfaces, getting straight towards Ophelia and surrounding her. Her tears were beginning to break free, and she sat on her bed sobbing as all these people laughed at her, mocked her, teased her.

"What a failure you were," a more familiar voice sighed, and Ophelia looked up through her tears in shock to find the voice. Meredith, Jeremiah and Abigail had joined Doctor Jones along with Doctor Parsons, all of them staring down at her. "Why couldn't you have been a nice, normal girl?" Meredith continued, dabbing at her eyes with a tissue.

"Beatrice was right; you needed to get more book knowledge and less kissing that boyfriend of yours!" Jeremiah scolded.

"I'm going to enjoy moving into your room once we burn all of your things," Abigail sneered, setting of another chorus of laughter. "We tried to get rid of some of your clothes, but no one wanted the clothes a filthy dirty whore has worn!"

"STOP IT!" Ophelia shouted as everyone began to laugh at her again, sending shivers throughout her spine and causing more tears to fall down her face. "I'll move back into my room, I'll be proven innocent!"

"Oh, I don't think so," Doctor Parsons said as everyone continued to laugh, more faces appearing behind them: Ashley, Ginny and Allison were all pointing at her like she was a circus freak, taking photos of her and tapping away on their phone. "You see Ophelia, I was just calling the Justice Minister, and he gave the prison permission to execute you for all of your crimes right now, isn't that nice?"

"WHAT!" Ophelia screamed, before freezing up, her breath almost slipping away from her: they were going to kill her… now…

"We have given our permission for this to go ahead," Meredith added, wiping a final tear before putting the tissue away. "We thought it was best to kill you now while everyone was here watching," and Meredith stepped asides, revealing more people: Mrs Thompson, Mrs Law, the nurse, Mrs Owens, more of her friends, the guard from Green Meadows, several of Sam's friends standing laughing alongside him. Ophelia tried to cry, but she was all cried out, and could only watch in horror as she looked at all the people who had come here to watch her die, who thought she was a killer, who thought was an idiot and a slut and a bitch… it was too much to take in, and Ophelia could feel her head swinging, her heart beating faster than it ever has before in her life.

"Doctor Jones, shall we?" Doctor Parsons asked.

"Doctor Parsons, we shall!" Doctor Jones replied, and they began to step forwards, though the entire room seemed to be spinning, and the laughter was beginning to sound further away. Ophelia clutched her head as she tried to steady herself against the spinning, and shut her eyes in hopes these people would leave her alone, stop harassing her and just leave her be.

"Go away… leave me alone… please, just go away," she whimpered, her head beginning to throb as it spun, and Ophelia let out a scream of pain.

"Doctors, please… let me…"

A new voice had joined, and Ophelia froze up, her head still spinning and the tears still flowing, but she managed to open her eyes, recognizing this voice, and wasn't surprised to find him here amongst everyone else. Ophelia looked up towards the Slender Man, who was walking forwards with his hands raised, his smile wide. Everyone was still laughing, but they were beginning to go black, fading away, leaving only Ophelia and the Slender Man in the room.

"Do it!" Ophelia hissed, glaring up at the man who had ruined her life and haunted her every waking moment for too long. "I just don't care anymore! You've ruined my life, I have nothing left to live for… just kill me."

"As you wish," the Slender Man laughed, and he began to bring his hands down. The laughter began to echo all around louder and faster than before, and Ophelia clutched her head and shut her eyes, feeling pain striking through her body, trying to hold it in but unable to any longer.

"AAAAAAHHHH!" She screamed as she felt the knife like fingers cut through her body, but Ophelia let him hurt her, ready to accept her fate, ready to pass on. Her body was being shook, hands clasping her shoulders, and Ophelia continued to scream as someone said her name, and she wondered why the Slender Man was doing this… shaking the life out of her, perhaps?

"Ophelia, wake up! WAKE UP!"

Ophelia's eyes burst open but she continued to scream. Doctor Parsons was in front of her rather than the Slender Man, his aging hands shaking her shoulders. "Ophelia, what's wrong? What did you see?" Ophelia stopped screaming, a scratchy feeling in her throat from all the yelling. She looked, breathing in and out deeply and rapidly, feeling sweat running down her body. The cell she was in was the solitary confinement one, so she had at least lived that one out, but had all those people been in here as well, insulting her, laughing at her, ready to watch her die?

"What's going on?" Ophelia asked as the doctor shined a small torch in her eyes and put a finger on neck to feel her pulse. Two guards were standing in the doorway, thankfully none of the ones she had abused yesterday. "Did you call the person?"

"Yes, I did," Doctor Parsons said, putting the light away, "and it's good news for you. We may have a way to find out what's wrong with you, and you are going to see your family," he explained, and Ophelia simply nodded as he helped her to her feet. Would her family laugh and leer at her know as they had whenever she had seen them?

"Oh… oh…Okay…," Ophelia said nervously. "Where am I going, what are you going to do?" Doctor Parsons looked down at her warmly, putting an arm around her shoulders and leading her out of the room. Ophelia quickly looked around, and for a split second she swore she saw everyone crammed in there, waving at her with cold, vicious smiles, the Slender Man in the middle leading them all. But she blinked and they were gone, and only Doctor Parsons was smiling down at her, though his was warm and reassuring.

"Ophelia, you're going back to the hospital."


	19. OMG, MRI

**Only two chapters left after this one! **

**Chapter Nineteen: ****OMG, MRI**

Everything was happening too quickly for Ophelia to process.

Doctor Parsons and the guards quickly whisked her away: up several staircases, through many doors, pausing to be checked, before rushed out into the car park, the guards keeping a firm grip of her for the entire way. The sunlight was dazzling after so many days locked away inside, and Ophelia shut her eyes to avoid being blinded. However, she was quickly taken away towards a white van, where she was shoved a rather roughly inside. Doctor Parsons was following by car, so Ophelia found herself alone with the two guards, the doors clearly locked behind her.

Ophelia tried to think why they would be returning to the hospital. Did they have better facilities to execute her there? Were they going to slice her open and see if there was something living inside her making her do all these things? Ophelia wanted to cry again, all this confusion making her uncomfortable, but the steely glare from the guards completely put her off acting out. She simply sat on the cold metal bench, her mind wandering about the hospital, her family being there, and the strange group of people that had come to watch her die last night.

It was only a short trip to the Green Meadows Hospital (still not feeling green, Ophelia thought), and the doors were pulled open. The guards got another firm grip of Ophelia's arms that made her whimper slightly, but she sucked it up and carried on, wedged between the burly guards.

Ophelia was surprised at how clean and perfect everyone was. While she was rotting away in prison, the world was getting on without her: birds fluttered between trees, groups of people chattered merrily as they went to visit patients, flash cars sped through the parking lot. It was another thing in a long list of unfair parts of Ophelia's life, and she grumbled at a particularly shiny sports car that zoomed past, fill of people laughing for whatever reason, making Ophelia sick.

The glass doors parted open, and the guards quickly dragged Ophelia through the corridors. People didn't seem to be looking at them as they passed, but Ophelia could catch their eyes darting away only a few seconds before they came past. She bet they were all wondering what that girl had down to be brought here by police officers, dragged unwillingly through the shiny hospital. It felt like she was a fierce, ugly animal on display that no one really wanted to see, and once again Ophelia felt tears rise up inside of her, along with furious resentment.

"OPHELIA!" A voice cried out from the end of the corridor, and Ophelia looked up as Meredith, Jeremiah and Abigail came running forwards, Doctor Parsons trotting behind. The guards let go of her so that her family could all wrap their arms tightly around her, their voices cancelling each other out as they went on about how much they missed her and how the lawyers were doing the best, and talking about television shows and movies and baking and people that Ophelia really didn't care about.

"Thanks," she said, forcing a smile and trying to find something in the jumble of words to be thankful for. Meredith was beginning to cry again, and Jeremiah looked almost on the verge as well, but Abigail was staying strong, giving Ophelia a reassuring smile and pat on the shoulder.

"Now Ophelia, now that you're here, we're going to run a few tests," Doctor Parsons explained, and Ophelia nodded, though wondered what tests these were going to be. She could see some nurses and doctors coming forwards, but none of them looked familiar.

"Where's Doctor Jones?" Ophelia asked, and got a sudden flash of his laughing face back in solitary confinement.

"He may be part of helping find out what is wrong," Doctor Parsons explained, "but we can discuss it later! Abigail here has done a lot of research and may have the solution to having the charges against you dropped." Ophelia gasped and looked at her sister, who was smiling rather awkwardly at being talked about.

"You found the Slender Man?" Ophelia asked eagerly. She wanted nothing more but to see that nasty creature captured and killed in whatever way possible, but she could tell from the sinking faces of her family that that wasn't it in the slightest.

"I'll explain after the tests are done," Abigail explained, and Ophelia nodded, wandering what could possibly be revealed that she didn't already know about the Slender Man and his evil ways. Doctor Parsons directed Ophelia into a room, where the doctors and nurses had already headed into. Ophelia took a deep breath before walking in, willing to do anything that would get her name cleared.

The tests weren't that bad once they went underway. Ophelia simply sat in a chair after changing into a hospital gown, the two guards hovering in the doorway, and did whatever the handsome young doctors told her to do. They took her blood, measured her heart rate, examined her eyes, ears and mouth, took throat swabs, asked her for a urine sample, stuck a few painful needles in to other places, just to get measurements. Ophelia was starving and thirsty by the time the tests were finished, and she felt extremely sore after all of the poking and prodding they had done, and was relieved when they finally took off their gloves.

"Am I allowed to eat now?" Ophelia asked, resting a hand against her stomach as it roared, and realised she hadn't eaten since she had knocked her food to the ground back in her old cell. However, the main doctor simply shook his head sadly.

"Sorry Ophelia, but you have to go and have an MRI scan first," he explained, "but then you will be able to eat and drink while we process the results." Ophelia sighed and nodded, and began to wonder what the MRI was for. She had seen people go into one on TV, and it sort of looked like being slid into an electronic tunnel. The nurses explained that she would have to take any metal objects off before she went in as they pushed her out in a wheelchair, but Ophelia grimly reminded them that all her possessions had been taken away when she was sent to jail, and they quickly fell silent.

"How did everything go?" Doctor Parsons asked, standing by the door with Abigail. The doctors took him asides to answer him, but the nurses began to take Ophelia away, out of earshot of the conversation.

"Don't worry about the MRI, it'll be alright," Abigail said as she followed along. "Mum and Dad are just getting some food, and than we can go and join them after you've had the scan."

"Good, I think my stomach is about to eat itself," Ophelia groaned, and Abigail laughed. It was nice to be back around some normal people who weren't treating Ophelia like filth, and for the first time in years, Ophelia reached out and grasped onto her sister's hand, and was pleased to find Abigail grasping back. They carried on in silence, savouring the bonding, not letting it get ruined by saying the wrong thing. Ophelia wanted to stay like this for longer and leave all of the drama behind her, but the wheelchair suddenly slowed down, and another nurse opened up a door.

"It'll be fine, don't worry about it!" Abigail said again, letting go of Ophelia's hand. "I will be in the control room watching, so I'll come over if you need anything."

"Thank you," Ophelia said, and watched as her sister opened another door and disappeared through that. The nurse wheeled Ophelia towards the machine, which did indeed look like a giant electronic tunnel, and turned as Doctor Parsons and the other doctors came in and went in through the door as well.

"Alright Ophelia, we just need you to lie down here," the nurse explained, and directed Ophelia towards the large panel that would take her into the MRI's mouth. Ophelia was beginning to get worried, wondering what it would be like inside of there. It looked like it might swallow her up and trap her inside, and her breathing began to get rougher and shallower.

"It's okay Ophelia, we'll all be right here," the nurse explained soothingly, and Ophelia nodded as she climbed onto the bed. She tried to get herself comfortable and eventually lay still, wondering what would happen next.

"Alright Ophelia, your going in now," Doctor Parsons voice said, and there was a whirr and a slight jolt as the bed beginning to slide in. Ophelia closed her eyes at the bright hospital lights, but they began to fade away, being replaced by bright yellow lights on all sides inside the MRI. The machine seemed to be whirring, and Ophelia wondered if this was the process of scanning her.

_Don't freak out, it's just a medical procedure. It'll be done soon and then I can leave… _Ophelia told herself, breathing in and out, trying her best to relax. The whirring continued, and continued, and continued, and Ophelia began to wonder if it would ever stop. She had lost count of the time, and was simply breathing in and out, trying to calm down. There were suddenly several jolts and Ophelia clutched the sides of the bed, her breathing becoming rapid.

"Ophelia, there is a problem with the machine, but we are fixing it," one of the hospital's doctors called, and Ophelia began to freak out: what if they couldn't fix it, what if she became trapped in here forever?

_No, they are going to save me… they know what they are doing! I'll be… oh, who the hell am I kidding, I'm going to die! _Ophelia thought, and shut her eyes and clutched the sides even harder, listening to the whirrs and feeling the jolts, waiting for the moment she would could finally leave and get answers to prove her innocence…

"Foolish girl once again."

Ophelia's eyes burst open, and her mouth followed a few seconds later as she began to scream. She had been hoping this wouldn't happen, that he wouldn't appear in this closed in, tight space, but the Slender Man was now right on top of her, beaming down at her.

"Scream all you want, but they won't fix the machine in time," he hissed, but Ophelia continued to scream, hoping someone would come and help her. "Face the facts Ophelia: you are just a silly, crazy little girl in their eyes, they aren't going to worry about you. You should be more worried about the fact your time is nearly up! You have evaded me for too long, but my trap is almost set, and soon you will be all mine!"

"GO AWAY!" Ophelia screamed, and she began to wave her arms, trying to push him, but the Slender Man simply smirked and curved his body to avoid her touch.

"Before this day ends, you will be mine! Say all of your goodbyes, your time is almost is up," he hissed, and Ophelia blinked and he was gone. She continued to scream though, unable to think of anything else to do. What did the Slender Man mean? Was he going to kill her today, and if so, how and where? Ophelia wanted to find somewhere to hide, but she needed to get out of the MRI now, and was beginning to bang on the sides.

"LET ME OUT!" She screamed, tears beginning to flow. The words had barely left her mouth when there was another jolt and suddenly the bed moved forwards, and Ophelia looked up as faces descended upon her, looking frightened. She leapt up though and scrambled to get away, but hands reached out towards her, holding her still.

"The Slender Man was there, why didn't you stop him?" She yelled as the nurses pushed her down into the wheelchair. She caught Doctor Parsons exchanging looks with the other doctors, and Abigail had her hands clasped over her mouth.

"Calm down Ophelia," one of the nurses said, but Ophelia was too scared by what had been said to focus. She simply nodded as people said things, and she was moved out of the room. Ophelia got the impression they were going to take her to get results, but she didn't care about any of this, trying to avoid the glaze of glass or reflective surfaces. Despite all that had happened to her, this was the most scared she had been so far: something in the way the Slender Man spoke seemed very nasty, very true, as if what he was saying was going to happen.

Ophelia knew, deep down in her heart, that he would kill her before she left this hospital.


	20. The Truth is Rejected

**Here we are: the penultimate chapter! The readers will finally get some answers, but you'll have to wait until the next and final chapter to see how the story comes to a conclusion!**

**Chapter Twenty: The Truth is Rejected**

Ophelia sat alone in a therapist's room, her entire body shaking as she waited for Doctor Parsons to return. The wait was beginning to kill her, eating away inside of her body. She wanted to know what the tests results would say, but she knew they wouldn't tell the whole truth: the Slender Man was after her and only a short while away from killing her. There wasn't anything a blood test or a MRI could say about that, and Ophelia hoped they would understand.

She spent the time reminiscing, think back to how her life use to be: sleeping in on weekends, waking up to a cooked breakfast that she ate in front of the widescreen television, before getting dressed in her designer outfits and spending the day with her friends or Sam, simply enjoying her youth and having a good time. Ophelia wondered if Sam had had a funeral, and if Ashley had gone to it, and if she had known who was being accused of killing him. Ophelia imagined her parents had kept it under wraps, but the local media had a way of finding out the truth about supposedly confidential subjects. It had been a good friendship, and Ophelia was saddened that she would never be able to say goodbye to her good friend.

Ophelia thought back to Christmases and birthdays, family trips to their seaside bach, their mountain lodge or heading overseas for a bit of adventure. They had been to most places in Australia and many of the Pacific Islands, and had been planning a big trip to the United States once they had saved up money. Despite having the odd differences, Ophelia did enjoy her time with her family, and was going to miss laughing with them, crying with them, celebrating with them, even shouting with them… it at least meant she was with them, still alive, not being chased after by the Slender Man…

To this day, Ophelia still didn't know what had caused the Slender Man to come after her. Was it the fact she didn't like the poster Abigail gave her? Was it the fact she had been drinking under age, or fought with her best friend? None of these things were deserving of the psychological torture he had put her through, and Ophelia had felt her health slip away, her mentality fade away, her personality get flipped on its head. The Slender Man had already mostly destroyed her: all he had to do now was complete this long, horrifying process.

The door suddenly opened, and Ophelia looked up, wiping tears out of her eyes as Doctor Parsons and Abigail walked in, holding several pieces of paper and folders between them. The two police guards remained in the doorway, glaring in and closing the door, reminding Ophelia of the fact there was nowhere for her to run when the Slender Man came to get here.

"How are you feeling, better?" Doctor Parsons asked nicely as he sat down in a leather chair, Abigail taking the one next to him and leaving Ophelia in the wheelchair. She replied with a nod and quickly glanced around the room, wondering if this was Doctor Parsons: she took in several nice paintings, a pot plant, and a very cluttered desk with full in-tray, letter opener and a variety of stationary.

"That is good to hear," Doctor Parsons replied, and Ophelia couldn't help but noticing the wide beam that was shining across his face: clearly, the news he had brought was going to be good. "Ophelia, we have looked over all of the results from today's tests, and we have found a reason for your insanity."

"That's funny, because I don't think I'm insane," Ophelia replied a little coldly, causing Doctor Parsons and Abigail to exchange looks. Ophelia felt a bit bad, but wasn't going to let them think she was something she's not. "But continue, I guess."

"Alright… good," Doctor Parsons said, but quickly recovered from the outburst and pulled some papers out. "Your blood tests have been purely alarming, and your heart is actually pumping a lot faster than you may think. But nothing was confirmed until we looked at your MRI," and the doctor slid what looked like an X-Ray across to Ophelia. She stared down and realised it was one of those colourful images of her brain, and remembered seeing them on some of the medical shows she watched.

"What does this confirm; that I have a rainbow for a brain?" Ophelia asked, trying to make sense of the colourful splodges.

"Look at that part Ophelia," Abigail said, and pointed towards a section on what Ophelia presumed was the right side of her brain. She realised that the colour of the scan looked different: a very strange shade that looked slightly purple. "You've been poisoned, Ophelia. Something has gotten into your bloodstream and this has gotten towards your brain. Your sense of reality has been distorted by it," Abigail explained, but Ophelia just stared back at her, listening to the words as they were spoken.

"Poisoned… that's ridiculous!" She whispered, but stared back down at the brain scan: the information seemed to be pointing towards it. "How could I have been?" She asked, and Abigail smiled, glad to see their plan was working of telling her the news.

"I have a theory. You remember that hideous necklace grandma gave you for your birthday?" Abigail said, and Ophelia nodded, remembering now the reason why she had gone to the retirement village that night, wishing to confront her grandmother about the jewellery. "I was looking through some of her stuff that was left over from the fire and found a receipt from a Chinese jewellery store in the city. I went there and brought several objects and found that not only was the paint extremely toxic, they had a sort of powder in them. We are still waiting for test results back from them, but I am certain that's what poisoned you!"

"Doctor Jones has been feeling sick ever since you stabbed him with the needle he'd already injected you with," Doctor Parsons explained, "and we are testing him as well to see if you may have accidentally transferred it." Ophelia was taking it all in, staring between the two and the brain scan in front of her. It wasn't possible, none of what they said was making any sense…

"But the Slender Man was there, he was there at all these times!" Ophelia protested, causing their faces to sink. "I saw him somehow put possibly a hundred people to sleep at

Queen Elizabeth Park! He was there in the car when I crashed. I heard him at grandma's, he grabbed hold of me in the MRI, he destroyed my school! You can't say some dodgy necklace a stupid old bat brought me caused all those things to happen!"

"Ophelia, there was a gas leak at Queen Elizabeth Park a few weeks ago, the day you first got out of hospital," Abigail said, her eyes beginning to water. "It was all over the news, several people died!"

"That's just what he wants you to think!" Ophelia snapped back.

"All these things you're saying Ophelia, they're all in your head!" Doctor Parsons protested, but Ophelia got to her feet and turned away. They were so willing to label her a lunatic, a freak, a murdering psycho, but refused to listen to the actual truth, that none of this was any of her fault.

"I haven't worn that necklace for weeks, it got destroyed in the fire!" Ophelia squawked, turning back around to see if they had an answer for that.

"We are still testing the different chemicals and poisons, but we believe that it isn't a chemical that can easily pass through your system, and that it would have already gotten into your brain if passed out," Doctor Parsons explained, his voice sounding strained. "Just please sit down Ophelia, we are here to help you. We don't want to hurt you and we are not lying to you. This is the truth of the matter, and we can begin to cure you straight away if you agree."

"And we are going to call the police as well!" Abigail said, trying to sound happy but was on the verge of tears due to Ophelia's reaction. "Mum and Dad are in the café now calling the lawyer. We will be able to get you off on a temporary insanity!" Ophelia turned back around, anger beginning to rise up as she stared at the two people she knew were trying to help, but they were saying all the wrong things.

"Temporary insanity?" She hissed. "That still puts the blame on me! Get it through your thick skulls: I AM NOT TO BLAME!" Ophelia yelled, and Abigail finally snapped, beginning to sob in her chair, but Ophelia didn't care. They were hurting her with their words, and she wanted them to hurt as well. "The Slender Man is the one at fault! He told me he was going to kill me soon, which I think means today! You people are being foolish by not listening to him! Stop him, not me!"

"Calm down Ophelia!" Doctor Parsons growled, leaping to his feet, but Ophelia turned away and stared down at the desk. She needed a way to prove to them that she wasn't crazy, that the Slender Man was the one behind all of this. They weren't going to listen to her, but staring down at the desk, Ophelia was beginning to think of a plan.

"I'm sorry, your right, I need to calm down," Ophelia said, still looking down at the wooden desk. "Abigail, can you help me back to my seat, I feel a bit dizzy," she called out in her most pathetic voice. She heard Abigail sniff and listened as she stood up, and Ophelia quickly edged her hands towards something she'd seen before.

"Once we get you in the chair, we'll take you down to the café while we sort things out, alright?" Abigail said, wiping her tears away with her hands and trying to sound strong.

"Not alright," Ophelia growled, and she spun around with the letter opener. Abigail screamed as she put the sharp object up against her throat and Doctor Parsons cried out. The door suddenly burst open and the two guards came up, reaching for weapons as they saw Ophelia with her sister held hostage.

"Throw me your weapons, now, or I swear I'll cut her!" Ophelia hissed. The guards froze, not sure what to do, but Doctor Parsons nodded at them and both of them slowly slid their guns across the carpeted floor. "Now close the door and sit down!" The guards obeyed as Ophelia grabbed both guns and slid them into her pockets, Abigail shaking and crying in her arms. Ophelia felt no guilt about this: she needed to show them that the Slender Man was real and was behind all of the incidents over the past few months, and this was the only way to prove it.

"Do you have any phones or walkie talkies or anything like that?" Ophelia asked as she grabbed a spare key for the office. Doctor Parsons pulled his mobile out, and then grabbed the two walkie talkies belonging to the guards and passed them over. Ophelia grabbed a bin and the doctor placed them in amongst some food wrappers and bits of paper.

"Good, very good," Ophelia said almost breathlessly, grasping tightly onto the knife and her sister, glad to see things were working out so far. "Now, I am going to lock the door, and you need to stay in here. If you try anything funny, remember who has two guns, a knife and a hostage." Ophelia moved towards the door, grasping the bin in one hand and the knife in the other, but she moved it and placed it against Abigail's back. Her sister was crying and shaking, but Ophelia punched her in the arm as she reached for the door handle.

"Ophelia, please sit down and we can forget this ever happened!" Doctor Parsons protested as Ophelia turned the handle. "What are you going to do anyway?" Ophelia turned towards him as smiled as the door opened, letting in the noise of the rest of the hospital. The noise was that of general busyness, but soon it would be full of screams and sounds of terror about what was happening in the café.

"If you don't believe me about the Slender Man, I'm going to have to prove he is real," Ophelia explained, shoving Abigail outside, "and I don't care how I do it."


	21. Ophelia and the Slender Man

**Here we are, the grand finale!**

**Chapter Twenty One: Ophelia and the Slender Man **

Ophelia quickly closed the door and locked it, leaving the doctor and the guards trapped inside. Abigail stood still a few feet away, trying to get a hold of herself in the situation her sister had put her in, though Ophelia had no idea or care for the horror she was in. Moving quickly, Ophelia found a large trolley nearby that the cleaning ladies used and tossed the bin in. Than, for extra protection, Ophelia rolled the bin over and managed to get it wedged in the handle, providing a large weight to keep the door shut in case they managed to find another spare key.

"Let's get going," Ophelia growled at her sister, and moved alongside her, holding the knife against her back to get her walking. No one was in the corridor at the moment, but Ophelia didn't want to risk walking into anyone or finding anyone in the elevators, and saw a door up ahead leading to the stairs.

"Leaving that bin by the door will probably attract more attention than you want," Abigail said once Ophelia had closed the stairwell door, leaving them in an eerie silence. Ophelia realised she had a point, but there wasn't anytime to go back and fix it.

"Just shut up and keep walking!" Ophelia growled, and grabbed her sister's left arm and began to pull her down the spiralling stairs. Ophelia was putting her plan together, and the silence allowed her jumbled mind to think clearer: the Slender Man was going to kill her today, she knew that, but Ophelia was going to try and defeat him and clear her name at the same time. She had the guns and the letter opener, and hoped that she would be able to use them.

They walked in silence down two flights of stairs, a heavy tension between the two. Ophelia kept her sister close by to stop her try and escape. At one point, Ophelia swore she felt something prick her skin and clutched her sides. She glared accusingly at Abigail, but her hands were empty, and Ophelia figured she must have imagined it. Walking down the stairs was making her feel dizzy again and her eyes were getting blotchy, but Ophelia ignored these symptoms as they finally coming to a door that had a sign bearing "GROUND FLOOR" next to it. Ophelia smiled, glad to have achieved this part of her plan, and shoved Abigail in front of her.

"Open the door and just keep walking," she hissed, and her sister unwillingly responded, pulling the heavy door open and allowing the two to enter the busy ground floor. There were much more people here, with many visitors crowding around nearby elevators or heading towards the café, food stores and shops to buy last minute gifts for their poorly friends and family. Doctors and nurses were rushing away, and some people were sitting on seats, reading magazines or examining their phones, waiting for something that Ophelia couldn't care about. All she knew was that no one's eyes were going to be on her, and she placed the letter opener against Abigail's back to get her to move forwards.

"Which one are the parents in?" Ophelia hissed into her ear, and Abigail quickly pointed towards the biggest café: it had no name but floor to ceiling windows revealing revealed it was right next to the car park and silver, modern tables and benches with luxurious chairs. It had clearly had a lot of money put into it, but wealth and style were not important to Ophelia at the moment: she needed to prove her innocence, and she needed to do it now.

"Come on, let's go," she whispered to Abigail, and they quickly continued across the hallway, curving past the reception desk and towards the nameless café. Ophelia wasn't sure what time it was but presumed it to be around lunch based by how many people were in there. As they approached the entrance, Ophelia pulled the letter opener away, and for a moment Abigail looked happy, but that faded as Ophelia instead grabbed one of the stolen guns.

"It's time we end all of this," Ophelia hissed. "Don't do anything stupid, just do exactly what I say, and no one will get hurt, and than this whole incident will be over." Abigail nodded and Ophelia as she shoved her into the café, raising the gun up. A few faces turned her way and gasped, but most people were still focused on their meals… for now.

"EVERYONE LEAVE!" Ophelia screamed, and suddenly everyone turned to her. Cutlery was dropped, cups smashed, people gasped, and suddenly someone screamed. Almost as if that was the call they all needed, people began to run. Ophelia smiled to herself at how easily they reacted, and grinned at people as they fled. She forced Abigail forwards and shoved her into the nearest booth, turning around to watch all of the people fleeing from her, even the café workers who burst out of their door and ran out of the building along with everyone else. The guards were calling for back up as more people ran out, and Ophelia simply smiled: she didn't think an audience would be best for this.

"Ophelia, what are you doing?" Ophelia turned as her father rushed forwards, sounding as if he was just telling her off for forgetting to bring the washing in, but Meredith's reaction was better: she was already crying and rushing into the same booth as Abigail, just as curious as everyone else to see what was going on.

"Sit down father, you will see in a moment," Ophelia explained. She went towards the doorway and saw the button she was looking for: a giant red one that would cause the giant plastic shutters above them to roll down and close off the café from the rest of the hospital. As it began to roll down, Ophelia rushed towards the doors and turned the locks, waving at the terrified faces of people who fled out into the car park. Ophelia couldn't believe how smoothly this had gone so far, and hoped the rest of her plan managed to work.

"So, we're all together again!" Ophelia called out to her family, strolling back towards them and smiling at their cowering faces. "Just like old times, and we will soon have many more of these memories, happier versions, of course, very soon!"

"What are you talking about?" Jeremiah asked. "Doctor Parsons said you would get treatment after he told you about your illness, and –,"

"And there, daddy, is the reason why we are all here!" Ophelia said with a big grin. "You see, I don't actually _think _I'm insane. Everyone is happy to believe I have some weird brain disorder because of a piece of jewellery, yet no one seems to think the Slender Man has been following me! So, I am going to prove just that!"

"What, are you going to bring some children out for him to kill?" Abigail snapped, and Ophelia pointed the gun towards her, making Meredith let out a whine.

"You think you know the Slender Man from the internet, but I have seen his true nature, and how foul, horrible and demented that thing is!" Ophelia hissed. "I am going to make him come out, and than everyone will see that I'm not at fault!" Ophelia than turned around, hoping to find the Slender Man waiting for her, her words bringing him out. But the café was empty, only the Carter's there with the hospital visitors all watching fearfully from the other side of the glass. The sound of police sirens whined in the distance, and Ophelia hoped they wouldn't get in her way.

"You don't have to do this Ophelia!" Abigail called out, making Ophelia wheel around again. "Just accept the treatment and we can move on and get a temporary insanity case up for you!"

"NO!" Ophelia screamed, the gun shaking as she pointed it towards them. "I am not responsible for anything that has happened! Grandma and Sam dying, the car crashing, school and home being destroyed, none of that is because of me!" Ophelia could feel tears streaming, and she wiped them away to come up her dominance over them. Her brain was also beginning to spin, and she knew that the Slender Man must be close. "I have done my best to get a nice image for myself, and I won't have any charges or any sort hanging over me! I just need THE FUCKING SLENDER MAN TO SHOW HIMSELF!" Ophelia screamed, raising the gun up, ready to fire it.

"Do you even know what you're doing with that?" Jeremiah asked. "Have you ever fired a weapon in your life?" Ophelia realised he had a point, but she had watched plenty of movies and crime shows in her life to know what to do. She pulled one bit backwards, and then pulled the trigger, shutting her eyes. There was a banging and a shattering of glass that made Meredith and Abigail scream, and Ophelia opened her eyes to see a window had smashed, sending people fleeing from the scene.

"I mean it here!" Ophelia growled, clutching the weapon tightly as she watched her mother cry again. She looked around, wondering where the Slender Man was, and rushed towards the coffee machine to see if he was hiding in there. The sounds of the police sirens were getting louder now that the window was broken, and Ophelia screamed and grabbed a tray of empty coffee cups and threw them against the wall. It made her sway in a woozy manner again, but Ophelia was glad to let her anger out. She needed the Slender Man to come here soon if she wanted to prove things.

"O-O-Ophe-e-elia…," a voice whined, and Ophelia turned back around. Meredith had gotten out of the booth, was pulling something out of her handbag, and Ophelia curiously walked forwards. From a closer distance, she realised it was a DVD box set and a new iPod, clutched tightly in her mother's hands. "We got these for you in case the news was good," Meredith explained, and passed them slowly towards her. Ophelia froze up, remembering getting similar gifts on her birthday. Those happier times seemed so far in the past now, and Ophelia reached, willing to take them, willing to leave all of this horror behind and end it all now…

_Foolsih girl._

"GAAAAAH!" She screamed, and whacked the presents, sending them flying. "SHOW YOURSELF!" Ophelia screamed, and began wheeling around, the gun raised and she was ready to fire. As Meredith collapsed to the ground crying, Ophelia saw blurs in the windows: a pale smile here, a black suit there. "DON'T RUN FROM ME! FACE THIS, FACE WHAT YOU'VE DONE TO ME!"

"He isn't going to show Ophelia!" Abigail screamed.

"HE WILL, I KNOW HE WILL!" Ophelia shrieked back as Jeremiah pulled Meredith back to the booth. Abigail sighed and reached into her pocket, and Ophelia turned the gun towards her.

"No, he won't, because I injected you," Abigail said, and she pulled out an empty needle in a plastic case, and Ophelia remembered the prick. "Doctor Parsons gave this to me, saying he thought if I had it, it might help you calm down. It is meant to help with the healing process, clear up the poisoning in your brain."

"I'M NOT POISONED!" Ophelia screamed, and she pulled back the bit she thought was called a chamber and pulled the trigger without even thinking. Meredith and Jeremiah both screamed as the bullet entered Abigail: it passed through the top of her right shoulder, falling to the floor. Abigail passed and slid sideways, grabbing a napkin it putting towards the blood that was coming out.

"YOU'RE SISTER!" Jeremiah screamed. "HOW COULD YOU?" And he rushed towards Abigail, Meredith simply screaming and bursting into tears. Deep inside of Ophelia, in parts of her heart and soul she couldn't access anymore, she felt guilt rise up at what she had just done. But then a voice entered her head: _foolish girl taking foolish actions once again!_

"SHOW YOURSELF!" Ophelia screamed and fired the gun again, this time shattering a window above that showered her with glass.

"He isn't real Ophelia, accept it, move on and help with your sister!" Jeremiah yelled, putting more napkins done on Ophelia's shoulder. Ophelia began to breath deeply, turning around the room, catching more blurs of the Slender Man. She needed him to come out: she hadn't gone through all of this just to end up harming her sister and looking more like a crazy person! She needed to do something drastic, and she stared down at the gun, an idea entering her mind that was so stupid that Ophelia knew that it had to work… she would do anything to clear her name.

"If he isn't real, than see him stop this!" Ophelia yelled, and pulled the chamber back and turned the gun towards her chest. All three of her family members cried out, but Ophelia counted down, looking around for the Slender Man to appear. He wanted to kill her for himself, didn't he?

She pulled the trigger.

_Fallen for a trap once again._

The words echoed in Ophelia's mind rather than the sound of the gun, and her gasp was at those words, not at the fact a bullet had just torn through her lung. The world around her began to distort as Ophelia fell to the ground, defeated. Meredith appeared over her screaming, but already things were going black. More words and phrases echoed throughout Ophelia's mind: Beatrice and Sam's last words, the shouts of her teachers, Doctors Parsons and Jones, Officers Copper and Jean, her parents, Abigail. All the things she had lived through began to run rapidly through her head, though Ophelia knew they were drifting away. Jeremiah was now trying to resuscitate her, but Ophelia could feel the pain in her chest, the blood pouring out and filling up her lung. She blinked back tears as she silently looked up at the world, and for one fleeting second, Ophelia saw the Slender Man hovering over her, his face emotionless, his body still, but than he was gone. After all of the horrors, after all she had gone through, Ophelia had seen the Slender Man for the last time, and had finally been bested by him. She heard the continued screams of her family and saw a doctor running into the room, but Ophelia pushed them away and shut her eyes, hearing the world no more, finally out of her misery. In her last moments, in her final seconds, Ophelia began to wonder if Doctor Parsons had been telling the truth, if it was all in her head or not, though it didn't matter now…

Wheter real or not, The Slender Man had managed to kill Ophelia Carter.

**I hope you have all enjoyed reading this series as much as I've enjoyed writing it, and I hope you aren't too confused over the final. It has gone on a bit longer than necessary, but I have very much had fun writing it and building up towards this climax. Thanks to everyone who has read this and reviewed, and I hope you all tune in to read some of my next fan fictions :) Thanks once again and remember - The Slender Man is watching you ;)**


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